Through The Glass
by n1c0le
Summary: There's a new family member in the MacDonaldVenturi home, surrounded with lies and secrecy. What is really going on?
1. Intro

**Author's Note: **_It's me again with yet another fic :-D I just keep coming up with these ideas that beg to be written down... Anyway, I really hope you enjoy this one, I have a bunch of ideas for it, so please stick around! Thanks and I adore reviews (hint hint!) hee hee! Enjoy!_

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"I'm so glad to see you!" Emily threw her arms around her best-friend as soon as Casey had opened the front door.

"Me too," Casey smiled. It was the first time she had seen her best-friend in over six months. She was afraid that things would be awkward because they hadn't really kept in contact while Casey was away, but Emily was the same as ever. Much to Casey's relief, of course.

"So, tell me all about the immersion program you were on," Emily grinned as Casey let her inside the warm house. She took off her coat, gloves, and hat, fluffing her wild curls before sitting on the couch. Casey sat down next to her best-friend, her smile faltering slightly.

"Oh, it was… _très magnifique_," Casey said with a shrug and Emily laughed.

"Really? I think being immersed in a foreign language for six whole months would drive me _loca_," Emily said with a short laugh at herself. "What about the guys? Are the _Québécois_ hot or not?"

"Definitely hot," Casey said with a wink for emphasis.

Emily flittered again. "Got any numbers or screen names?"

Casey was glad that she was interrupted then by the front door opening. A gust of cold Canadian winter air filled the house as Derek bombed in.

"Man, it's cold out there," he commented, busily pulling off his gloves and blowing into his bare hands to warm them up. He was so preoccupied that he didn't notice their guest, and Emily would not have that.

"Hey, Derek," she said flintily. Casey couldn't help but roll her eyes at her friend. The unrequited crush she had on Derek was just ridiculous.

Nora, George, and Marti burst in then, Marti being carried by her father and a removable baby car-seat clutched in Nora's hands.

"Casey, warm-up a bottle of formula for Tyler, okay?" Nora said to her eldest daughter as she set the car-seat down on the hardwood floor.

"Do I finally get to meet your new baby brother?" Emily grinned over at Casey, leaping off the couch just as Casey was getting up to go get the formula.

Casey didn't respond, so Derek did. "Sure, come see the newest Venturi-MacDonald addition." He smirked over at Emily, kneeling down on the floor. A real smile erupted on his face as he looked in on the sleeping newborn.

"He's a whole week old already and _still_ all he does is eat and sleep," Marti exclaimed to Emily, sticking out her lower lip in a pout. "I wanna _play_ with him!"

"You'll get to play with him soon enough, honey," Nora said soothingly to her little stepdaughter, helping her out of her unicorn winter coat.

"Emily, do you want to stay for dinner?" George asked as he crossed the room to pick up the phone. "We're ordering pizza," he said temptingly.

Emily laughed. "Sure, Mr. Venturi, thanks." She watched as Derek carefully took the small bundle out of the car-seat.

"Emily, do you want to stay for dinner?" George asked as he crossed the room to pick up the phone. "We're ordering pizza," he said temptingly.

Emily laughed. "Sure, Mr. Venturi, thanks." She watched as Derek carefully took the small bundle out of the car-seat. She looked down, leaning her head purposely on Derek's shoulder as she strained to see the baby in his arms.

"_Oh my gosh_!" Emily squealed as quietly as she could, not wanting to wake the sleeping little boy. Casey came out just then, carrying a warm bottle in her hand. "Casey, your little brother is the cutest thing _ever_!"

"Yeah, he is," Casey smiled, looking over at the sleeping baby. "We've got to wake him up so he can eat, though, it's past his feeding time."

"You guys can handle feeding him while I go check in on Edwin and Lizzie, right?" Nora asked, already climbing the stairs as she spoke.

"I wanna feed him!" Marti bounced around, standing on her tiptoes to catch a glimpse of the newborn in her brother's arms.

"We're fine," Derek said offhandedly, gazing at the tiny bundle. He seemed almost entranced by the little guy.

"Yeah," Casey echoed. She peered over at Derek. "Do you want to feed him?"

Derek looked over at Casey, and their eyes held for a moment before Casey broke the gaze, moving her blue eyes down to the floor.

"Sure," Derek said, his voice sounding slightly strange to Emily. She watched as Casey handed the bottle to Derek, skilfully avoiding any hand contact.

Derek gently brushed the tip of the bottle against the tiny baby's pink mouth, and instinctively, without opening his eyes, the infant took the nipple of the bottle into his mouth and began slowly suckling.

"Aww, he's so precious," Emily cooed.

"Pizza's on its way!" George shouted from the kitchen, ruining the tender moment.

"Pizza!" Edwin came rushing down the stairs. "Where!"

"On its way!" Marti replied sassily, doing a little twirl. "Babies can't eat pizza, right Casey?"

"Right," Casey smiled at the newly-turned-seven-year-old. "Babies drink a special formula that helps them grow."

"Is that what Tyler's drinking right now?" Marti inquired, hopping up and down to look at the slurping infant.

"Yup. You want to see, Smarti?" Derek asked, bending to sit on his knees so he was now the same height as Marti and she could peer in on Tyler.

"He's so great with his siblings," Emily swooned quietly to Casey.

Casey sighed in response. She frowned for a moment and after quite a delay, simply said, "Sure."

"How's the feeding going?" Nora asked as she came back downstairs, with Lizzie trailing behind her.

"Not so good. The pizza isn't even here yet and I'm _starving_," Edwin replied, shaking his head in disdain.

"Not you, Smart One, she means the baby," Lizzie said, rolling her eyes, feigning exasperation at her favourite stepbrother.

"He was hungry," Derek responded, his eyes soft as he watched the baby drink up his bottle.

"Edwin, Lizzie, Marti, come help me set the table," Nora said, ushering the kids into the kitchen, leaving the oldest ones alone for some privacy.

"It's so great that you came back just in time to see his birth," Emily said to Casey as the three of them watched Tyler continue sucking on the bottle. "Perfect timing, huh?"

"Yeah," Casey said, somewhat half-heartedly.

"You finished, little guy?" Derek asked in a surprisingly soft voice, feeling that the bottle was at its end. At that, Tyler finally opened his large blue eyes and looked right up at Derek.

Emily gave another squeal and Casey couldn't help but give a small smile as the baby stared up at Derek innocently.

The doorbell rang just then, and Edwin burst in from the kitchen, flying past them to open the door. George was right behind him, taking out his wallet.

"I'll go put him upstairs in his crib," Casey said, seeing that Tyler's eyes were beginning to close again. Derek nodded, silently handing the bundle of light-blue blanket to Casey. Casey tenderly stroked the baby's chubby cheek before turning to go upstairs.

"I thought your parents' room was downstairs in the basement," Emily said to Derek, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Yeah…" Derek said. "But, uh, temporarily Marti is staying with Lizzie and Tyler's in Marti's room."

"Nora doesn't stay with him?"

"They have those…uh…walkie-talkie things…" Derek explained as he began walking into the kitchen. Emily followed close behind.

"You mean a baby monitor?"

"Yeah, that," Derek nodded, sitting down at the table in his usual spot. "Edwin, soda," he commanded distractedly with a finger snap, and Edwin reluctantly handed over the 2-litre of Pepsi.

Casey strolled in, and Nora smiled gently at her daughter. "Tyler in bed?"

"Yup," she nodded, sitting down next to Emily. "Sound asleep already."

"See? Babies are boring," Marti said to Emily and Emily smiled at the young girl.

"No, they're so cute," Emily refuted, accepting a slice of mushroom pizza when Casey offered it to her. She smiled over at George and Nora. "He's beautiful. He looks like the perfect combination of the Venturis and the MacDonalds." She took a bite of pizza and swallowed quickly as she thought of something. With a grin, she eyed her best-friend. "In fact, he looks like the perfect combination of you and Derek," she laughed at the irony of it, waiting for everyone else to join.

Nobody laughed with her. Casey choked on a mouthful of pizza and Derek awkwardly looked down at the table, chewing a bit more slowly.

"Imagine that," Lizzie stated finally, quietly taking a sip of her soda. Her eyes flickered across the table and met Edwin's just before Nora changed the subject completely.


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **_Thanks for the reviews, everyone! I'm glad you all enjoyed my first chapter, and hope you like this one too! This chapter will answer all of your questions! And also, this story is going to be slightly different from my other ones because it's going to include flashbacks. Flashbacks are in italics, of course. Hopefully it isn't confusing... I don't think anybody will have any trouble following, though! Anyway, please review and let me know what you think!_

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Derek could pinpoint the precise moment it happened…

_It was around ten months ago, when he was sitting around on the couch watching television as he would any normal Saturday afternoon. The house was eerily quiet for a weekend day because his dad and Nora had taken Edwin, Lizzie, and Marti to the Wilmington Waterslide Park for the day, as promised. Derek and Casey were both grounded for the stunt they had pulled while their parents were away—the party, which Derek would never admit was entirely his fault even though Casey had taken partial blame for it. He couldn't believe that she had actually stuck up for him and took half the responsibility for the out-of-control party. It had surprised him so much that he had actually begun to thank her, but, realising what he was doing, had quickly made it sound like what he had admitted to her in the bathroom while they were stuck in there had been merely a "sob story" and that he had been surprised that she had naively bought it._

_Of course, that wasn't true, and he was simply embarrassed that he had almost thanked Casey, his loser stepsister. He would never, ever admit how completely shocked he was that she had taken some of the heat for the party. And he also would never, ever admit that he was almost glad that the two of them had been trapped in the bathroom._

_It had been fun, being stuck in there together, even if the party of the year was going on just below them. They had had the best shampoo-shaving cream match Derek had ever had. He unwillingly got a little bit closer to Casey, one-on-one. It was surprising the way things had turned out._

_However, that Saturday afternoon, with nobody there to enforce the grounding, which included no television and no telephone, Derek was glued to the TV set. _

_Casey came down the stairs, dressed in casual weekend attire consisting of sweatpants and a tank-top, and glared at Derek. He could feel her eyes narrowing at him through his peripheral vision._

"What_ are you _doing_?" she demanded, and he glanced over at her. Her hands were attached to her hips, and her jaw was set. _

"_Watching TV," Derek said offhandedly, shrugging at her carelessly and moving his eyes back to the screen._

"_Uh, if you don't remember, the television is off-limits for the whole week," Casey said as she walked over and easily grabbed the remote from where it lay on the armrest of the couch. She pressed the 'off' button and the TV turned to black._

_Derek snapped his head towards her, nostrils flaring. "You did _not_ just do that."_

_Casey smiled at herself, pleased. "Oh yes, I did."_

_Immediately, Derek was up and launching at her, and she quickly skipped away from his grasp, holding the remote behind her back._

"Why_ do you have to be such a _priss_?" he growled, grabbing for the remote and failing as she bounced away from him._

"_Why do _you_ always have to break the rules?" she shot back, jumping out of the way as he tried for the remote again._

_Seeing no other way, Derek pounced, pushing Casey onto the carpeted floor of the living room. She let out a determined cry as the two of them toppled onto the ground, and she hid the remote beneath her. Derek squirmed on top of her as he dug underneath her, trying desperately to find the remote. As he groped for it, he looked down at her. Her face was scrunched up with intensity, her blue eyes blazing, her cheeks heated and flushed. And suddenly Derek stopped struggling against her. Her eyes met his, wondering why he had stopped, and she let out a gasp at the strange look in his eye._

_She had never seen that look on her stepbrother's face before. He looked hungry. And no, not for food. For something else…_

_And before she had a chance to do anything, his lips were on hers, crushing them with incredible force. She let out a gasp of surprise, and Derek took the opportunity to slip his tongue in-between her parted lips. She froze beneath him as she felt his experienced tongue probe the inside of her mouth, and, as soon as she came to her senses, she began pushing at his chest, trying to get him off of her. But Derek wouldn't have any of that._

_Still kissing her, he reached down and grabbed her hands, pulling them away from his chest and pinning them up above her head. Furious at being completely helpless underneath his heavy body, Casey began to respond to Derek's passionate kiss, kissing him back just as harshly._

_Her tongue met his and they duelled, both in search of dominance over the other. Not able to move her hands, she arched her back, pressing her body closer against Derek's. He let out an unconscious groan as she pressed against him, his pants instantly tightening at the feeling. The remote dug into Casey's back and Derek released one of her wrists, groping underneath her for the remote. When he found it, he blindly tossed it in the direction of the couch. The two of them heard it smash into something instead, way deep in the back of their clouded minds. Uncaring, Derek and Casey continued their assault on each other's mouths._

That was the moment that the air around them changed from crackling with unresolved sexual tension to something more. Their new relationship heated up, and not a week later they would find themselves entering a sexual relationship.

And several weeks after that, they would find it all crashing down around them.

"_Are you feeling alright, honey?" Nora asked her eldest daughter at dinner that night. Casey looked kind of green as she stared at her plate of food and she hadn't been participating in any of their conversations at the table._

"_Just a little nauseas, that's all," Casey admitted, taking a sip from her glass of water. "It must be stress from all the studying I've been doing."_

_Derek studied the petite brunette across the table from him. He knew that she hadn't been feeling well for the past couple of days because every time he had met her for their new nightly ritual of amazing sex, she had said she wasn't up to it. It frustrated Derek (in more ways than one!), but now seeing her at dinner, he could tell that she really didn't look right._

"_Maybe you should see the doctor," he spoke up, surprising everyone at the dinner table._

_Nora, her eyebrows raised at Derek's sudden concern for the stepsister he openly despised, gave a nod of agreement. "I think Derek's right, Casey. I'll call and make an appointment for you in the morning."_

_Casey looked like she was about to protest, but then her face paled slightly and she nodded sullenly. "Fine. Can I be excused?"_

"_Sure," Nora said, noting that she hadn't touched anything in her plate._

_Derek went upstairs a few minutes later and heard Casey in the bathroom, audibly puking her guts up. When he heard the toilet flush, he knocked on the door._

"_You okay, Case?" he asked quietly, awkwardly._

_The door opened and a miserable-looking Casey ambled out. "Why do you care?" she asked gruffly, pushing past him._

"_Because we're family, dear sister," he gave her one of his classic smirks._

_Casey snorted. "And are we family when we're rolling around in bed together?" she asked scathingly._

_Derek cocked his head to the side. "You never seem to complain," he said smugly._

"_Well, I'm complaining now," she snapped, blue eyes darkening. "This…whatever it is we have…needs to stop."_

"_Fine," Derek said with a shrug, as if he couldn't care less. "It ends now then."_

"_Good," Casey said defiantly._

"_Good," Derek spat back. "Let's pretend we never started this."_

"_Perfect," Casey agreed, arms folding across her chest._

And that was the end of whatever it was that they had started. The next day, however, Derek and Casey would discover that they would have a life-long reminder of their torrid affair.

_Derek was sitting on the couch with Marti, reading her one of her favourite stories, when Nora and Casey burst in the front door. Nora looked completely pissed off and Casey was slightly behind her, her arms wrapped around herself in comfort. She had obvious tear-tracks on her face and wouldn't meet Derek's eyes as they walked inside the house._

"_How was the doctor's?" Derek couldn't help but ask but tried to sound apathetic about it._

"_We need to have a talk. Now," Nora said to him, her tone very serious. Derek's characteristic smirk quickly melted away. "Marti, go up to your room."_

"_But Smerek didn't finish the story!" Marti instantly complained, her lips forming into a pout._

"_He'll finish it later. Go," Nora said in an I-mean-business kind of way. Knowing that now was not the time to argue, Marti wisely ran upstairs. "George!" Nora called, beginning to pace the room. "Casey, sit down on the couch," Nora directed._

_Looking small and fragile, Casey slowly took off her jacket and made her way over to the couch. She sat down on the opposite end of the couch, and Derek looked at her as her eyes welled up._

"_What's going on?" he asked, not liking this whole thing one bit._

_He was ignored as his dad walked into the room from the kitchen, holding a half-eaten sandwich. "Hey, honey," he smiled at Nora. But then, seeing the look on her face, he stopped. "What's wrong?"_

"_We have a problem," Nora said, her hands on her hips._

_George eyed his son. "Derek, what did you do now?"_

"_It wasn't just him," Nora told her husband. "It was Casey, too. Oh, they had equal parts in this, that's for sure," she narrowed her eyes sourly._

_Derek glanced over at Casey again, utterly confused. She didn't even look at him._

"_The doctor had some interesting news for Casey," Nora continued, looking accusingly at her daughter. "It seems that Casey is _pregnant_."_

_Derek felt his heart stop beating._

_George's jaw dropped. "_Casey_?" he asked as if he couldn't even fathom that his perfect stepdaughter would ever get herself in such a predicament._

"_That's not all," Nora stated, her eyes moving back to her husband. "Your_ son_ is the father."_

_Down went George's sandwich, toppling onto the floor. He looked over at Derek in shock. "Derek!" he demanded. "What do you have to say about this?"_

_Derek could barely breathe then, so of course he wasn't able to answer. He just looked over at Casey with wide-eyes. She was sitting there, curled up on the opposite side of the couch, tears silently running down her face. She avoided his eyes completely, staring at a spot on the floor._

"_Derek? Is there something you want to say?" George demanded again, his shock slowly wearing off so he now looked just as pissed off as Nora. _

_But Derek could only shake his head guiltily. _

The next day, Casey was shipped off to "a French Immersion Program in Québec"—a.k.a. a secluded house for pregnant teens in Newfoundland. She would conveniently be sent back home after she gave birth.

Casey didn't say goodbye. And Derek didn't see or hear from her again for eight long months. And when she did return, she was holding a tiny baby wrapped in a blue blanket.

"_I named him Tyler," Casey said awkwardly when everyone was finished cooing over the baby, except for Derek, who was standing in the back of the room, a nondescript expression on his face._

"_Derek, don't you want to see your son?" George asked his own son. He didn't look so angry any more, and neither did Nora._

_Derek shook his head and left the room, heading up to his bedroom. He couldn't deal with this right now._

_Without him, a plan was set into motion. To keep up appearance, Nora and George would claim Tyler as their own. Casey secretly wasn't too thrilled about it, but seeing as Derek wasn't exactly "stepping up to the plate" as Tyler's father, she had to glumly agree. _

And that's how her son became her "new baby brother."


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **_Thanks for the reviews! This chapter is somewhat short, but I'll be sure to make future chapters longer... of course, if people keep reviewing -grins as she bribes her readers- lol, anyway, enjoy this chapter!_

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For the first day or so that Tyler was there, Derek didn't go near him. He didn't want to see him; didn't want to believe that he was a teenage father. Especially because he and his son's mother weren't exactly on speaking terms after their whole falling out months ago.

Every time the baby would cry, he would turn up the volume on his iPod.

Every time Nora or his dad would make some comment about him taking responsibility, he would ignore them.

And every time Casey, holding the small infant, sauntered into the same room as him, he would get up and walk away.

He was determined to have absolutely no part in the baby's life. He was glad that Nora and George had made the kids promise not to reveal whom Tyler's real parents were. It took a long time for Marti to comprehend why it had to be that way. But Derek had had a little talk with her, and she had promised her Smerek that she would never tell.

At school, he would be the same popular jock, hockey team captain and playboy extraordinaire.

But on that third night of Tyler invading the Venturi-MacDonald home, things changed a little bit for Derek…

_He was in the middle of a full-blown make-out session with Jessica Simpson when all of the sudden he could see her fading away. A shrill noise rang in his ear, pulling Derek out of his REM sleep and away from his teenage fantasies._

"_Guhh?" he groaned in gibberish as he opened one eye, his mind trying to register that he was not, in fact, in Beverley Hills, but in his own bedroom in London, Ontario. He reached for his alarm blindly and yanked it towards him, blinking rapidly as the time came into focus. 3:12 AM._

_The shrill noise rang out again and Derek finally realised what it was. A baby crying._

_Annoyed, Derek grabbed his pillow and buried his head underneath it, trying to drown out the racket. It didn't work._

"_Dammit," he cursed, throwing his pillow off of him and stumbling to his feet in the dark. He crossed the room and flung open his door, not exactly pleased at having been woken up in the middle of the night. He turned in the hallway to the room next-door to him and flung open the door without so much as a knock. Not that Casey would have heard it anyway, as the baby was screaming so loudly._

_He would be surprised if the whole neighbourhood wasn't up due to the infant's wailing. George and Nora had their practically sound-proof basement, Lizzie was staying over a friend's house for the night, and Edwin could sleep through a marching band parading through his bedroom. That would probably be why he was the only one ready to complain about the commotion._

"_Casey, shut that thing up before I—" he began to threaten, teeth clenched, but stopped when he looked around the lit bedroom. Casey was nowhere in sight. The baby bassinette that his dad and Nora must have set up for Tyler was right next to Casey's bed. Tyler was in there, sobbing away, but Casey's bed was empty._

_Not quite sure what to do, Derek felt himself advancing the bassinette._

"_Hey, could you quiet it down over there?" he asked crossly as he continued approaching._

_Still, the baby screamed on._

"_Come on, I have practice tomorrow," Derek sighed heavily with aggravation as he stepped in front of the bassinette. Annoyed, he leaned in to glare at the source of his oncoming headache, when suddenly he stopped. All air left his lungs as his eyes truly laid eyes on the baby for the first time._

_He choked on his breath. The baby looked just like him, only miniature-sized and with Casey's sparkling blue eyes. The light brown tuft of hair on his head, the small nose and faintest sprinkling of freckles, even his tiny pink lips were completely and totally 100 Derek Venturi._

_Derek felt his face involuntarily soften. "Hey… hey there little guy," he said awkwardly, his tone becoming gentler. Without thinking, he began to pick up the tiny child, careful to support his head, just as he was taught when Marti was a newborn._

_And as soon as Tyler settled in his father's arms, he became silent._

_Casey, holding a newly-warmed bottle of formula, found Derek holding Tyler, staring at the little baby in awe as he tenderly stroked the baby's head. Tyler's eyes drooped tiredly and Derek cooed for him to get some sleep._

_All Casey could do was stand dumbly in the doorway and watch, the bottle slipping from her grasp and falling onto the floor. Derek and Tyler didn't even seem to notice._

_As soon as it looked like Tyler had fallen into a peaceful slumber, Casey made her presence known._

"_Hi," she said quietly, not wanting to startle Derek._

_Derek snapped his head up, tearing his eyes away from the sleeping infant to look over at Casey. "He…uh…was crying, so I just thought I'd..." Derek began to fumble out an excuse._

"_It's okay, Derek," Casey said quickly, waving away his excuses as she looked away awkwardly. "He's your child, too."_

_Derek swallowed at that, looking back down at his son. His _son_. He hadn't been acting much like a father, had he? Looking back up at Casey guiltily, he nodded._

"_He's my child, too," he repeated firmly. And he would _act_ like it from now on_, _too, he silently vowed._

Since then, Derek had been spending any time he had between school and hockey practice with his son, whom he affectionately called his "little guy." He helped feed him and bathe him and change his diapers. He played with him and rocked him to sleep.

His relationship with Tyler's mother, on the other hand, was a different story. Casey was a great mother to Tyler, just as Derek was becoming a great father to him. But things between the two of them hadn't improved one bit.

In fact, they never spoke, unless it was instructions on or about Tyler.

"_I just changed him_," Derek would tell her.

Or, "_He needs to be fed in a few minutes_," Casey would remind him.

Besides requests to pass the peas or corn at the dinner table, their conversations were limited and were only based around Tyler.

Their only constant reminder of their failed relationship.


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **_Thanks for the reviews! And to answer one pressing question, the reason why nobody noticed that Nora wasn't really pregnant-looking was simply because she wears such baggy shirts. Did you ever notice in the first season that she always wore shirts that made it almost seem like she was covering a pregnancy? That's what I always thought for some reason. Maybe that's just me though. Anyway, there is a new LWD podcast up at http/www.family.ca/whatson/famclub/lifewithderek/podcasts.php?videoLWD-EP201.flv , so go check it out, it is HILARIOUS! Ashley and Mike are so funny together hehe. Okay, enjoy the podcast and enjoy this chapter! Feedback would be amazingly great! Hint hint ;-)_

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Casey went back to school even though it was half-way through junior year. She had kept up with her studies at the home for pregnant teens she had stayed at, as there was not much else to do there. It had been a prison for her. The nuns that ran the place were strict and never smiled, and the other girls who were staying there never seemed to take much interest in Casey. So, she had stayed by herself for the most part, thrusting herself into her schoolwork and reading. Desperately trying not to let her thoughts wander.

Because, whenever she let that happen, her thoughts would always take her to Derek.

She had been angry at him for getting her pregnant, even though it wasn't entirely her egotistical stepbrother's fault. _Obviously_. She had been mad at herself, too, for giving into her hormones and starting that stupid fling with Derek, even though in the back of her mind she knew just how wrong it was.

Which was why she broke off the whole thing with him. Of course, she didn't know then that the damage had already been done.

She never had the chance to find out how Derek felt about her being pregnant because she was shipped off so quickly. When she came back, she had a knot in her stomach as she approached her family, holding little Tyler in her arms. Her tiny miracle that she had fallen in love with the instant she laid eyes on him.

"Casey_!" Lizzie had exclaimed, running to her sister as soon as the front door opened. The whole family was there in the living room, waiting for Casey's arrival with the newest member of their family. The first true MacDonald-Venturi._

_Edwin and Marti followed Lizzie, and soon Casey was surrounded by the cooing family. It was clear that Tyler was a hit._

"_I named him Tyler," she told them all with a smile. She had named him after her and Lizzie's deceased father._

_Nora smiled knowingly at her daughter and have her a squeeze. Casey smiled down at Tyler as he slept on despite the racket around him. Then she looked across the room at her stepbrother, whom her little son so distinctly resembled._

_Derek hung in the back of the room, an unreadable expression on his face as he watched the whole family "oohed" and "aahed" over the tiny bundle of blue blanket. Casey heard George ask if Derek wanted to come see his son._

_And Derek had got up and left the room._

_Casey had to blink away the tears that began to sting her eyes. Derek didn't even want to _look_ at Tyler. Or _her_, as a matter of fact. She would have to raise her son without a father. Thank goodness she had the rest of her family to help support the two of them._

_The two of them would be fine on their own. Without the help of selfish Derek Venturi._

And for the next couple of days, she had been doing fine. Her mom and George were huge helps, especially because Casey didn't know much about babies, no matter how much the nuns had tried to teach her back in her "French Immersion Program."

Lizzie, Edwin, and Marti were also great with Tyler. They helped feed him and watched him while Casey showered or tried to catch some sleep during the day so she could be awake when Tyler cried for her during the night. Marti even sang lullabies to him, which, oddly enough, Tyler seemed to really enjoy.

Derek avoided her and their son at all costs. And, at first, Casey was upset. But then she decided that she didn't need her irresponsible loser of a stepbrother. She was doing just fine without him.

That's why she was so surprised when she found him on the third night of her being back home. In her room. With Tyler in his arms.

Smiling.

After that, he was attached to the small infant. He fed him bottles, read him stories from Marti's book collection, watched hockey games on the television with him (Casey had even caught him trying to explain the game to him, as if the barely week-old child would understand). He tucked him in at night before bed. He kissed his chubby cheek "for good luck" before hockey games. Basically, he was a great father.

The only problem was that he scarcely ever even made eye contact with his son's mother.

Casey was now used to strictly talking about Tyler with Derek. Nothing less, nothing more. It was only about the baby.

It was obvious that Derek felt nothing for her anymore.

Casey hid it well that she was completely stricken by the way Derek was treating her. Mainly because she still had feelings for him. And he wanted nothing to do with her. She tried to forget about what they had had.

And was starting to succeed.

In school, they basically pretended that they didn't even know each other. They remained on opposite sides of the social spectrum, and kept out of each other's way. Casey continued to hang out with Emily and threw herself back into her studies—earning the nickname "grade-grubber" once more. And Derek continued to hang out with the popular jocks while cheerleaders and, well, basically _every _girl in school fawned over him.

And Casey was proud that she didn't let it any of it get to her.

"There's a dance next Friday and you and I are SO going," Emily exclaimed excitedly as she and Casey walked home together one day after school.

Casey frowned over at her friend, pulling her backpack more tightly against her. "I don't know, Em…" she said hesitantly.

"Oh come on, it's the first dance since you've been back, you've _got_ to come," Emily pressured. "We can get new outfits and do our hair all sexy and whatnot," she went on half-dreamily, half-giddily. "It'll be so much fun!"

Casey still looked unenthused.

"Come on, Casey," Emily pleaded, grabbing onto her best-friend's arm desperately.

Sighing, Casey slowly nodded, giving in. "Alright, alright, I'll go," she said, still not very excited about the whole thing.

Emily squealed in her annoyingly endearing Emily-way, and bounced up the front stairs of her house. "I'll call you later, 'kay?"

"Yeah," Casey nodded, and waved as she turned into her own driveway next door. She opened the front door and walked into her house, distractedly shrugging off her denim jacket and hanging it up on the coat hook.

"He's _so precious_," she heard a high-pitch voice squawk and Casey whirled around to see Derek and some blonde bimbo from the cheerleading team on the couch, Tyler in Derek's arms as the blonde hovered over him.

Casey immediately narrowed her eyes, not especially pleased about the cheerleader in her son's personal space.

The bubblegum-chomping blonde looked over at Casey, her nose instantaneously turning up into the air so she was looking down at Casey even from where she was sitting. "Derek, who's _that_?" she asked rudely.

Derek glanced up and, seeing it was Casey, looked back down at Tyler. "That's just my stepsister."

"Oh," the cheerleader popped her gum, immediately feeling less-threatened by Casey. She went back to fussing over Tyler. "_You're going to be a big hockey star like your brother, aren't you, cutie_?" she cooed in a really irritating baby-talk voice, moving in closer to Derek on the couch.

Rolling her eyes at the pathetic girl, Casey turned on her heel and stomped up to her bedroom in aggravation. She flung her backpack onto the floor and threw herself onto her bed tiredly.

Tyler had been up for most of the night, still colicky. Derek had stayed up with him for half the night, taking turns with Casey, but still she was exhausted. She closed her eyes, trying to get the image of Derek and the cheerleader out of her head. She was frustrated that she even cared.

_Derek and I are sooo in the past now_, she thought, chiding herself. Lying to herself.

She began drifting off to sleep when she heard her door being knocked on.

"Mmm…yeah?" Casey responded sleepily, reluctantly opening her eyes as the door opened up, revealing her best-friend.

"Hey, Case," Emily grinned cheerily, walking inside the room without invitation. "I thought you might want those history notes now." She slapped a thick green notebook down on Casey's desk and then paused as she looked up.

"Casey… why is there a crib in your bedroom?"

Casey sat up quickly. "Oh, uh, well, my… mom thought she was getting a cold and she doesn't want Tyler to catch it because he's so young, y'know, so I, uh, volunteered to have him stay in my room until she feels better," her lies toppled on top of each other.

Emily seemed to believe it, though. "Aww, that's sweet." She smiled at the little blue-and-yellow airplane mobile hanging above the crib, giving it a little push with her finger so it spun around.

It had been both Derek's and Edwin's as babies.

"I see Derek's already teaching your baby brother the finer points of flirting," Emily eyed Casey. "The two of them are downstairs laying it on thick with that slutty girl Megan from school."

"I saw," Casey rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. "So, are you up to anything tonight?" she asked, quickly changing subjects.

"Actually…I…kinda have a date," Emily beamed to herself.

Casey raised her eyebrows. "Oh?"

"Yeah, with Chad. You know, from our art class?"

Casey nodded, trying not to look disappointed that everyone seemed to have a date on this Friday night but her.

"Yeah, he just called me a little while and asked if I wanted to 'hang out'," Emily squealed after making air quotes.

Casey was about to half-heartedly congratulate her best-friend when Derek walked in through the open door of her bedroom, a blue-blanketed Tyler safe in his arms.

Emily and Casey both immediately snapped their heads towards Derek and Derek gave them each a smirk.

"Just putting the little guy here in his crib," he said, gently placing the sleeping baby in his crib. The girls watched as he absently kissed the infant's tiny forehead before tucking him in.

"Later," Derek said as he turned and walked out, popping the collar of his striped polo shirt as he left. Casey knew that the "later" was directed towards Emily, for he never said anything like that to _her_ anymore.

No small-talk. Only Tyler-talk. Period.

"He's so good with kids," Emily commented as she stared dreamily (as she always did) at where Derek had exited.

"Yeah, yeah," Casey said with underlying resentment as she walked over to the crib to make sure that Derek hadn't tucked the baby in too tight or anything. As usual, however, he had done a perfect job.

"So… how about we go shopping this weekend and pick out those sexy outfits to wear to the dance next Friday?" Emily grinned, leering over at Casey.

Casey shrugged. She wasn't looking forward to the dance nearly as much as Emily clearly was, but it would be nice to get out of the house and do some regular teenage things. Get her mind off of stuff. Off of Derek.

"Sure," Casey agreed.

"Tomorrow? Say… two-ish?" Emily asked.

"Sure," Casey repeated with a nod.

"Cool," Emily smiled. "Now, I'm off to go get ready for my date. I'll give you all the juicy details tomorrow!"

Casey gave a chuckle. She would definitely be hearing about every single split-second of the date tomorrow, she could count on that. "Have fun," she said, trying to sound upbeat for her best-friend.

"Bye!" Emily said, practically skipping out the door.

And Casey was all alone on a Friday night once again.


	5. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **_Sorry for not updating sooner, I was away for a few days babysitting. But I'm back and I'll update again soon if I get a lot of feedback! -innocently bribes- lol. Hope you enjoy and thanks for waiting patiently!_

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Derek's eyes wandered as his lips moved against Megan's. She was kissing him so deeply, her arms wrapped around him and eyes closed tight, and yet he was distractedly looking around as they kissed. He just wasn't into it at all.

_What the hell, Derek Venturi? _he chided himself. _You're making out with a hot cheerleader. Why aren't you enjoying it! You're THE Derek, Bachelor of Pearson High School. Stop being a pussy!_

Forcing his eyes shut, he put all he had into the kiss, pushing away the thoughts that invaded his mind.

Thoughts about one Casey MacDonald.

_She doesn't want you, anymore, stupid,_ he heard a voice say in his head. _Get over her!_

Breaking the kiss, Derek opened his eyes, looking down at the floor almost guiltily. Megan smiled up at him, though, and gave him a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

"I'll see you in school Monday," Megan said flirtily, twirling a strand of her long blonde hair around her index finger as she opened the door of her house. "Call me!" She winked at him before flouncing into the house and shutting the door.

Derek simply stared at the closed door in front of him. "I've gotta get Casey out of my head," he muttered to himself, shaking his head as he shoved his hands into his jeans' pockets.

"_Are you sure you wanna do this?" he asked, his voice hoarse with emotion as he looked down into her beautiful face._

_She smiled up at him, reaching up and caressing his cheek. He immediately leaned into her touch, his whole body shivering at the light touch despite the sweltering heat between them. It amazed him how she could do that to him._

"_I'm sure," she replied confidently, her eyes searching his. "Are you sure?"_

_He almost let out a loud laugh at that. Was he sure? Hell, he had been sure the moment he had laid eyes on her. _

"_I'm sure," he gave her a smile, not one of his trademark smirks. A real smile. And he gently pressed his lips against her soft ones._

"_Just… promise you'll go slow, Derek," she whispered against his mouth. He released her lips and looked down into her deep blue eyes, drowning in them. A light crimson blush appeared across her cheeks. "It's my…uh…first time…" she said with embarrassment. _

_As if he hadn't already figured that._

_He gave her another small smile, reaching out and smoothing her silky dark hair away from her face. "I'd never hurt you, Case," he told her honestly and watched her smile at his words._

That night was the night that Tyler was conceived, Derek was nearly positive of that.

"Stop. Thinking. About. Her," he grunted angrily to himself as he walked home in the dark. She had made it clear that they were over, and he just had to accept that, even if it broke his little Derek heart.

He let himself into the house quietly, not wanting to wake the family up. It was after midnight, and he didn't want to get bitched at. He was already dealing with enough.

As soon as he climbed to the top of the stairs, he heard a baby begin to cry. He quickly opened the door to Casey's room. It was dim, but there was a small night light on in the corner so everything was still relatively visible. Casey was slowly sitting up in her bed tiredly, rubbing her eyes into focus.

"It's okay, I've got him," Derek said to her, and she mumbled something incoherent before flopping her head back down onto her pillow, most likely falling instantly back to sleep.

Derek peered into the crib, where Tyler was crying, probably ready for his midnight feeding.

"Hey there, my little guy," Derek couldn't help the smile that spread across his face at the sight of his small son. "You hungry?" He gently lifted the mewling infant up into his arms and nuzzled his practically-bare head.

"Come on, let's go get you a snack," he cooed as he took Tyler out of the room.

He warmed up a bottle of formula for him and watched the growing baby suck the whole thing down. He fell asleep as soon as the last drop was gone.

"That's my boy," Derek chuckled, tossing the empty bottle into the sink. He brought Tyler back up to Casey's bedroom and carefully set him back down in his crib, tucking him in so he was warm and comfortable.

"'Night, little guy," he said softly to the sleeping infant. Turning his heel, he looked over at where Casey slept, tossing and turning in dreamland. Her whole face was scrunched up, and he could tell that she wasn't having a pleasant sleep.

Instinctively, he felt himself being pulled towards her. Creases marred her forehead and her plump, pink lips were turned down in a frown. She exhaled deeply, as if sighing resignedly in her slumber. A dark strand of her long, silky hair slipped out of her loose ponytail and fell against one cheek, flushed with sleep. Gently, he reached out and brushed the soft strand back, tucking it behind one ear. He meant to pull away after that, but his hand lingered, hovering just above his ex-lover's earlobe, so close that he could feel her body heat radiating off of her against his palm.

_Her brilliant blue eyes fluttered open and locked on his instantly._

"_How long have you been watching me?" a small smile touched her lips as she gazed up at him, half-amused, half-embarrassed. Her voice was thick with sleep and it made him smile back down at her._

"_Doesn't matter," he leaned down and pressed his lips against her soft ones, as he had been dying to do since he had woken up around fifteen minutes ago. He hadn't had the heart to wake her up from her slumber; she had looked to angelic lying there, her dark hair fanned out around his pillow, her warm, naked body cuddled up against his, their limbs just as entangled as they had been when the two of them had finally fallen asleep after making love well into the early morning hours._

"_Derek!" she giggled, lightly pushing him away. "I must look awful." She sat up and began to rub the sleep from her blurry eyes and fix her tangled hair._

"_You look beautiful, Case," he objected, even surprising himself as the words tumbled out of his mouth. He looked away awkwardly, not comfortable with how easily he had been telling Casey exactly what he was thinking at the time without even realising it. Honest words just kept flowing out of his mouth. Definitely something new for THE Derek Venturi._

_Casey's eyes flickered back to him and she paused from combing out her long hair with her fingers. Derek looked back over at her, and found that she was smiling at him._

They didn't make it out of bed for another forty-five minutes that morning.

Derek sighed, watching Casey intently as she slept on, memories washing over him like waves tumbling upon the sand. Several months and a baby later, Casey MacDonald was still the beautiful girl he remembered from that morning, which seemed both like forever ago and just like yesterday.

Acting on impulse, as always, Derek found himself leaning in and brushing his lips against Casey's. As soon as their lips touched, he retracted, and Casey immediately began to stir. Panicked about having been caught, Derek quickly stood up, prepared to retreat.

But, instead, the sleeping girl just simply changed positions and snuggled deeper into her fluffy white pillow. The wrinkles on her forehead vanished and her frown softened into a more at-ease expression.

And Derek fled the bedroom.

Casey fed Tyler is morning bottle and handed him to Derek as he strolled into the kitchen.

Derek took the baby wordlessly, giving him a peck on the forehead as he tried to wake himself up.

"I'm going to the mall with Emily this afternoon," Casey said, looking over at her mother as she said this. Nora was sitting at the table, drinking a mug of coffee while Marti sang about her waffles next to her.

"But I have practice," Derek said quickly, instantly shooting a look over at Casey.

"It's alright, I can take Tyler," Nora said, setting down her mug. "I was just going to take Marti shoe shopping. We can bring Tyler along, can't we, Marti?" She looked over at the young girl to her left.

"Tyler doesn't wear shoes," Marti said, scrunching up her nose and looking at Nora as if she had gone nuts.

Nora smiled, patting Marti's brunette little head. "No, but he can come with us to get _you_ some new shoes, can't he?"

"Oh," Marti shrugged at this, "Okay." She then lit up. "I want ballet slippers!"

"But Marti, sweetie, you don't take ballet," Nora protested.

As Nora and Marti began fighting about shoes, Casey booked it upstairs to take a shower before Edwin or Lizzie stole it.

Emily came by around two, a purse clutched tightly in her hand. She flirted with Derek until Casey physically had to drag her outside so they could "get to the mall before it closed!"

"Sorry, but your brother is just so damn hot," Emily said as the two of them walked to the mall.

"_Step_-brother," Casey corrected immediately, her eyes narrowing as she stared straight ahead and pursed her lips together to keep herself from lashing out at her best-friend. She just wasn't in the mood to talk about Derek.

Especially not about how cute he had looked when he came into the kitchen that morning, his hair sticking up in every direction and his cheeks rosy from sleep…

Casey was torn out of her thoughts when she heard Emily call her name.

"Casey?" she asked, reaching out and shaking her friend's shoulder a little bit.

"Huh?" Casey looked dumbfoundedly over at Emily.

Emily gave her an accusing look. "You've been ignoring me!" she threw her hands up into the air in exasperation. "I was talking about some ideas I had for our school dance outfits."

"Oh, sorry," Casey shook her head. "I, um, was thinking about that English assignment we have to do."

Emily rolled her eyes. "_Case_ that's due in _three weeks_."

Casey shrugged, giving her best-friend an innocent smile. "It doesn't hurt to start early, does it?"

_And it doesn't hurt to STOP thinking about your STUPID ex…ex…whatever he was_! she added, cursing herself in her mind.

_Stupid Derek_!


	6. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **_Thanks for the feedback, please keep it coming and enjoy this chapter!_

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For all of Monday and Tuesday, Derek had somehow managed to avoid Megan and her cheerleading posse. It wasn't until Wednesday when she cornered him at his locker.

"_Der-ek_," sang a voice and Derek winced at how squeally it sounded. He turned and found Megan standing there in her cheerleading uniform, backed up by two of her cheerleading friends.

The cheerleaders at his school never seemed to go anywhere alone. He was surprised that some of Megan's cheerleading friends hadn't gone on the date _with them _last weekend.

He recognized both of the girls. One he had gotten to second base with on the school fieldtrip to the opera house last year. Her name was Jenny or Jeannie or something like that. The other one he had made-out with at a school dance a couple of months ago… he couldn't even take a stab at her name, though. All he remembered was that she was a _horrible_ kisser.

"So…" Megan reached out and ran her fingertips down Derek's arm, giving him a coy look. "Will I be… seeing you at the dance this Friday?"

"You know it," Derek tugged at his leather jacket, trying to sound like the cool Derek he had always been. The one he had been before he had gotten involved with his step-sister and becoming a dad.

"Great," Megan beamed her bleached pearly whites up at him. "Be sure to save me a dance, okay?"

"Uh…yeah," Derek said with a nod. "Sure."

Megan winked at him. "Come on girls, let's go," he watched her tell the girls and they followed like sheep.

Derek was just about to shut his locker and start walking to fifth period when he caught a flash of something in his peripheral vision; something towards running towards him, and fast. He glanced up to see Casey charging towards him, her eyes widened and a look of clear panic on her face.

"Derek!" she shouted to him as she ran to him.

Alarmed, Derek grabbed her as she came to a screeching halt. "What? What is it?" he asked, a serious look on his face as he checked to see if she was alright. It had to be something bad for her to be talking to him again… never mind running down the hall to get him…

"Mom just had the office page me," she look terrified, clutching Derek's forearms with her fingers, her nails digging into his leather jacket. "It's Tyler."

Instantly, Derek felt his whole world crash around him. "What?" he demanded. "What happened? What's wrong with him?"

"I-I don't know," Casey shook her head rapidly. "He hasn't eaten anything all day… Mom says he keeps pushing himself away from the bottle."

"He was being fussy last night when I tried to feed him, too," Derek remembered instantly. He had found it strange that Tyler hadn't woken up all night, as he usually did, and brought him a bottle around four in the morning. Usually he sucked the bottles down, but this time he had only a few sips before closing his little mouth to anymore. Derek had just passed it off, though, thinking he wasn't hungry because he had had a lot at dinner or something…

"My mom got an appointment for him in at one-thirty; she's coming to pick us up now so we can come too," Casey said in a rush.

Derek nodded, not caring about the test he had next period. It wasn't like he had studied anyway. And his son was way more important, anyway.

"Casey, come on, we're going to be late for history," Emily said, walking over to the two visibly-worried teenagers. She eyed the way that Casey was clutching Derek's arms and Derek had his own hands on Casey's elbows. "Uhh… what's going on?"

Casey instantly released Derek and looked over at her best-friend. "Tyler might be sick," she said, not in the mood to lie. "We're going to the doctor's with him."

Emily's eyes moved from Derek's face to Casey's face. "Uh… can't your mom and dad handle that?"

"Moral support," Derek shrugged, and Emily instantly quieted. She would never question Derek Venturi.

"Okay," she gave Derek a flirty smile. "I hope he's alright."

Derek nodded, looking over at Casey. "Come on, Case, let's go wait outside." He pressed a hand against the small of her back and began guiding her away from Emily. He was surprised that she didn't pull away from him, letting him steer her through the hall, down the stairs, and outside.

Nora and the family's mini-van pulled up in front of the steps of the high school, and Derek and Casey both jumped into the back, where little Tyler was buckled into his car-seat.

"You okay, my little buddy?" Derek immediately asked, leaning down and taking one of the squirming infant's tiny hands.

"Has he eaten anything still?" Casey asked Nora hopefully as she settled down into her seat and took the baby's other hand.

"No," Nora told them as she began driving towards the pediatrician's office downtown, where Marti usually went. "The bottle's on the floor in the diaper bag; you two should try."

Derek instantly began rifling through the bag as Casey looked on at her son's tiny face. He looked so small in his car-seat; so fragile and helpless. He blinked up at her with his large blue eyes and she gave him a small smile. _He was going to be okay. He just had to be okay._

Derek shook the bottle and tested it on his wrist to make sure it wasn't too hot or too cold. Gently he began rubbing the rubber nipple up against Tyler's plump little pink lips, coaxing him to open up. Immediately his head began twisting left and right, pushing his mouth away from the bottle in rejection.

"Come on, sweetie," Casey gentle persuaded, "Eat for Mommy and Daddy."

Derek tried being a little more forceful, and all that ended up doing was making Tyler angry. He began wailing, and Derek let out a heavy sigh of exasperation.

Casey began chewing the bottom of her lip as she rocked Tyler in his car-seat. Something was definitely wrong with their son. Hopefully it wasn't anything severe… maybe just like an early molar coming in or something…

"Can babies start teething when they're this young?" Casey looked up at her mother desperately, meeting Nora's blue eyes in the mirror.

"I don't think so, honey," Nora said quietly, continuing to drive.

Casey looked over at Derek. He was letting Tyler grab at his fingers, getting him to stop crying. But the look on his face said it all. He was afraid.

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"I'll go sign him in," Derek said as the three of them plus the baby entered the pediatrician's office. Casey nodded in thanks and moved over to the "Well Patients" area. She was _not_ going to risk Tyler catching anything in the "Sick Patients" area.

"Tyler MacDonald-Venturi," Derek said to the receptionist as soon as he was at the front desk.

"Alright…" the woman began typing something into the computer. She then handed him a clipboard. "We'll call you shortly. Please fill out these papers."

"Yeah, sure," Derek grunted, grabbing the clipboard and moving over to his family on the other side of the room.

"They want these papers filled out," Derek said bluntly as he sat down next to Casey, who was now holding Tyler wrapped up in a blanket for warmth.

Casey nodded, but it was obvious that she wasn't going to be the one filling them out. Derek glanced at Tyler, who was falling asleep in his mother's arms, and began filling out the packet of papers.

Derek was hardly finished when the receptionist called out, "Tyler; Room 7."

Immediately, Casey bolted up, waking up a sleepy Tyler in the process. Nora asked them if they wanted her to join, and Derek knew that Casey would feel more comfortable with her there, so he agreed to it. Casey gave the smallest smile of appreciation to him as the three of them walked down to examining room number seven.

A nurse was in the room waiting for them, and she smiled when she saw little Tyler.

"Aww, who's this little fellow?" she asked, taking the bleary-eyed infant from Casey.

Derek knew that Casey wasn't very thrilled at having Tyler snatched away from her, so gave her a small hand squeeze.

"His name's Tyler," Derek spoke for her, and Casey looked relieved that she didn't have to speak. She sat down in one of the empty chairs, watching her son intently.

"Well, hi there, Tyler," the nurse cooed as she began taking measurements and weighing him. "He's underweight; has he been eating well?"

"That's the problem, actually," Nora began, and told the story of what had been going on.

"He was really fussy during the night, too," Derek added once she was finished. "He didn't wake up like he usually did."

"He has been eating less than usual," Casey finally spoke up, her voice small and carefully controlled. "The past few days, actually. I didn't think anything of it at the time."

The nurse nodded as she jotted all of this down. "Alright, Dr. Franks will be with you in a moment."

"Thanks," the three of them both mumbled as the nurse left.

Derek immediately scooped up Tyler from where he lay on the examining table, and Casey busied herself by finishing up the packet Derek had been filling out. Nora called George on her cell phone to ask if he could leave work early and pick up the kids even though it was her day to pick them up.

Derek pressed a kiss to his son's cheek. He did notice that it was a little less chubby than usual. "We're gonna find out what's wrong and then we're gonna get you better, okay buddy?" he whispered to the little boy as he bounced him gently in his arms, calming the slightly-nervous infant.

As the door finally opened, Nora promptly snapped her cell-phone shut and Casey put down the pen she had been writing with, setting the finished packet down on the examining table. Derek eyed the middle-aged man as he walked in, a pair of glasses balanced on his nose and the chart that the nurse had filled out in his hand.

"Hi, Dr. Franks," Nora said immediately.

"Hello, Nora," the man said in a friendly manner. "No Marti today?"

"No, not today… do you know George's son Derek?" Nora gestured over to Derek, who was cradling Tyler in his arms still, a deadpanned expression on his face.

Derek had never been to Dr. Franks before, but he had tagged along a few times with his dad when Marti was sick, or before Edwin claimed he had "outgrown a paediatrician" at the age of nine.

"Ah yes, Derek," Dr. Franks smiled. "How have you been?"

"I've seen better days," Derek muttered and Nora frowned at his response.

"This is my daughter, Casey," Nora continued, moving on and placing her hands on either one of Casey's shoulders where her eldest daughter sat with her legs crossed, wiggling her ankle around nervously in the air.

"Hello, Doctor," Casey said absently.

"And this is their son, Tyler," Nora explained, looking over at the baby in Derek's arms.

"Oh… I see," Dr. Franks said quietly. He looked at Derek. "Derek, would you mind setting Tyler down on the table?"

Derek didn't look happy about it, and grudgingly set the half-asleep infant back down on the table, making sure his blanket protected his head against the hard table underneath him.

Dr. Franks read the nurse's notes and began examining Tyler. The baby didn't like it very much, and began crying. Both Casey and Derek watched their son, hating how they couldn't go to him when he was crying as the doctor looked him over.

Time seemed to go especially slow for Derek, who wanted to grab the doctor by his collar and demand to know just what the hell was wrong with his son. He was about to do just that when finally the doctor looked over at them.

"There seems to be irritation in the esophagus," Dr. Franks told them. "It's a bit red and swollen, probably tender to little Tyler here. Which is probably why he's not too keen on eating right now."

"So, it's not serious?" Derek asked immediately.

Dr. Franks looked back at his patient. "Well… it's a bit early to say. I'm going to give a prescription, something like anti-reflux pill for infants. That should help reduce the irritation and make it bearable for him to eat."

"And then he'll be alright, right?" Casey asked worriedly, eyes upon her pride and joy.

"I believe so. If the condition seems to not significantly improve within the next day or so, and he is still not eating much, then I think it would be best for you to see a specialist at the hospital," Dr. Franks began writing out the prescription. "This should do the trick, though," he smiled, handing the prescription to Derek. "Get this filled as soon as you can."

"We'll go right now," Nora said, shaking the doctor's hand. "Thank you so much, Dr. Franks."

"You're welcome," he nodded, and looked at the two silent teens. "Take care now."

"Thanks, Doctor," Casey said quietly, and Derek didn't bother to say anything.

As the doctor exited the room, Casey got up and placed the now-quiet baby into his car-seat, sprinkle little kisses across his face as she tucked him inside the chair. Derek looked over at Nora, not liking the feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Let's get out of here," he spoke stiffly, taking the car-seat from Casey so she wouldn't have to carry the surprisingly heavy thing. He figured the weird feeling he had was just because he never really like doctor's offices. Hospital's either. They just kind of had always creeped him out as a kid. He had thought his fear had long gone, but now, standing there, he felt the familiar fear rush over him.

But, even as he left the hospital and got in the car to drive over to the pharmacy, the dark feeling stayed with him.


	7. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **_Because I got such a nice response, I decided to post early! So here's the next chapter, please keep reviewing, and if you have a chance, take a visit to my favourite Life With Derek forum at (www dot) life-with-derek (dot) net. Include the hyphens, lol. It's a cool site, and I'm on there a lot._

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That night, Casey and Derek gave the baby his first dose of anti-reflux medicine. They had a hard time getting down the baby's throat, and Derek had to force the baby's lips apart while Casey shoved the small eyedropper into his mouth and made him swallow it. Tyler got down a portion of it, but spat a few drops of it out at his mother, staining Casey's shirt.

"When do we know he's okay?" Derek asked quietly, watching Casey rub at the stain with a baby-wipe as he set Tyler back down in his crib.

"As soon as he eats, I guess," Casey replied, tossing the baby-wipe into the trash can as soon as she seemed satisfied with the result. She peered down at Tyler, yawning despite herself as she saw he was already fast asleep.

"It's late," Derek said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I should, uh, get to bed."

"Yeah, me too," Casey nodded, looking around the room. At everything except Derek.

"I'll get him the first time he wakes," he offered. She usually took him first, and then they alternated from there.

"Oh… okay," Casey seemed slightly surprised at that. "Sure. Can you wake me if he eats?" She looked over at Tyler again, her thin eyebrows furrowing in concern for their son.

"Yeah, sure," Derek assured her with a nod. "Get some sleep."

"Yeah, you too," Casey offered him a watery smile—all she had to give—and Derek headed next-door to his bedroom. He kicked off his favourite brown Chuck Taylors and unzipped his jeans, tugging them off so he was now clad in his boxers and a White Stripes T-shirt.

Flopping down into bed, he tossed his dirty socks across the room and shut off the light beside his bed, pulling one tangled sheet up to cover his body. He settled down against his pillows and closed his eyes, falling instantly asleep.

And he slept the whole night.

When he opened his eyes at 6:42 in the morning, he jumped out of bed. He ran into Casey's bedroom, which she left slightly ajar so Derek could come in and out without waking her when he took care of Tyler.

"Shit!" he cursed aloud as he immediately strode over to the crib. Tyler was lying there, still, his eyes opened and looking around curiously, his diaper reeking toxic fumes.

Casey heard Derek swearing and woke up. "Derek? What's wrong?" she asked, getting up out of bed and walking over to him as he picked Tyler up.

"He didn't eat all night," Derek told her, placing the baby down on the changing table and carefully opening up his diaper.

Casey let out a gasp at what she saw. It looked like Tyler had had an upset stomach. It was the most filled up diaper she had ever seen in her life.

Derek swore again as he began cleaning Tyler up. "This can't be good."

Casey took Tyler to go give him a bath and Derek headed downstairs tiredly and worriedly, his muscles all tense and sore. He found Nora bustling about the kitchen, making breakfast, and George there, talking with her as he drank his morning coffee.

"Tyler's stomach isn't doing so well," Derek said glumly as he sat down at the table wearily.

"That could be from the medication, honey," Nora informed him. "It's a common side effect with most medications. I'm sure he'll be okay."

Derek perked up a bit at this. "Really?"

"Yeah," Nora nodded, setting a plate of scrambled eggs down in front of him. "Has he eaten yet?"

"No," Derek shook his head, sighing as he looked down at his breakfast. For the first time that he could remember, he wasn't hungry.

"It may take some time to work," Nora said. "I'll heat him up a bottle, anyhow. Where is he?"

"Casey's giving him a bath," Derek replied, sitting back in his seat, his eggs untouched.

Casey came down holding Tyler a few minutes later. He was dressed in a new pair of fleece pajamas and he smelled of baby powder. Derek reached up to take him, and Casey gave him to him, taking a seat next to him tiredly. Derek pressed a kiss to the baby's warm head, breathing in his sweet smell. He always smelled so great after a bath.

Edwin and Lizzie came downstairs at the same time, dressed and talking about who-knows-what.

"Where's Marti?" George asked, noticing that one of the kids was missing.

"She says she's not going to school today," Edwin said with a shrug, helping himself to some scrambled eggs and making a mess in doing so.

George groaned and got up. "Marti!" he yelled as he left the kitchen to go get his youngest.

"I'm not going to school today," Casey stated flatly, looking up defiantly at her mother.

"Casey, don't be ridiculous," Nora waved her off. "You have to go to school. Tyler will be fine here with me. If anything happens, I promise to call you and Derek."

"But Mom—" Casey began to protest.

"No," Nora said sharply. "Tyler will be fine with his Grandma Nora, won't he sweetie?" Nora smiled down at the little baby in his daddy's arms.

"Can you get him to eat?" Derek asked, studying his little son. He didn't like how pale he was beginning to look. How small and fragile. And light.

"I'll do my best," Nora nodded. "Now, you two go get ready. I don't want you being late for school."

Casey reluctantly got up and went to her bedroom obediently. Derek gently handed Tyler over to Nora and re-traced Casey's footsteps upstairs. He went into his room and got dressed as he heard Casey running around her bedroom, hurriedly doing the same.

The two of them unhappily were dropped off at school so they wouldn't be later than they already were.

"Where were you?" Emily demanded as Casey slid into her seat just as first period history class was starting up. "I called you like fifteen times yesterday."

"I was busy taking care of Tyler," Casey said, stifling a yawn. She was exhausted, even though she had gotten enough sleep. Worrying about Tyler was physically draining her.

"Why?" Emily didn't seem to understand. "I mean doesn't your mom and George—"

"They're busy with the other kids too, you know," Casey snapped, shutting Emily up immediately. She just wasn't in the mood for Emily's inquisition. Not now, when she had a sick infant at home and had to learn about the discoveries that Jacques Cartier made hundreds of years ago. She had been so preoccupied that she hadn't even noticed that she had put two different shoes on until she had already left the house.

"And what's with the sho—" Emily noticed on cue and Casey simply gave her a glare, daring her to finish that sentence.

Emily looked away and opened up her history book, mouth sealed shut.

-------------------------------------------------

After school, Derek came over to Casey, who looked positively flustered as she rummaged through her locker for the right textbooks to bring home.

"Any news about Tyler?" he asked when she looked over at him.

"No," Casey shook her head. "I'm going home now, though…" she eyed the hockey bag he was carrying, "…you have practice, I'm assuming?"

Derek nodded. "I'll be home around six. I'll call before then though to check in."

Casey cocked her head to the side as she observed him. He really was worried about his little man. "Okay."

"And have me paged at the rink if anything happens," he continued.

"I will," Casey confirmed.

"And Case?"

"Yeah?"

"Get some rest, you look like hell."

Casey gave him an annoyed fake smile, her blue eyes narrowing. "Gee, thanks."

He gave her a smile to let him know he was just playing with her, backing up a few steps before turning and exiting the building.

Derek had been lying, of course. Casey MacDonald could never really look like hell. She did, however, look completely exhausted. Like she could fall asleep standing up. Totally worn out. And, of course, Derek knew why. He was feeling the same tiredness, but was much better at hiding it than he was. He was worried about his son, but instead of constantly dwelling on it, he tried to keep plugging along, hoping that everything would be alright and all of the worrying and concern was for nothing.

"Hey, man," his closest friend Sam said as he entered the locker room at the rink.

"Hey," Derek responded coolly, setting his bag down on a bench.

"What's happening?" Sam asked casually as he changed into his hockey uniform.

_If you only knew, buddy, _Derek thought to himself, yanking off his shirt. "Not much."

On the ice, it was a nightmare. Derek had never played so horribly in his life. He was distracted, and his coach and everybody on the team noticed it. Letting out a loud curse and slamming his hockey stick onto the ice, he excused himself back into the locker room.

"Damn it," he yelled, kicking a locker with his hockey skate, leaving a small dent in the thin metal.

"Derek?" he heard a voice and looked over. It was Sam, pulling his helmet off and spitting out his mouth guard.

"Yeah?" Derek responded pitifully.

"What the hell's up with you, dude?" he asked, knowing that it had to be something big. Derek was the star of the team, and when he was playing that horrible, there had to be a reason behind it. A huge reason behind it.

"Nothing," Derek sighed, pulling off his gloves. Then he looked over at his best-friend. "Hey… can I use your cell for a sec?"

"Yeah…sure…why?" Sam asked curiously as he dug his cell-phone out of his duffel bag.

Derek gave him an "I'm-Derek-Venturi-and-I-Do-What-I-Want, That's-Why" kind of look. Sam rolled his eyes and tossed the phone to his friend, who smoothly caught it. Derek flipped open the phone and then looked up at Sam.

"Uh, can a guy get some privacy please?" he asked in annoyance.

"Fine, fine," Sam shook his head, knowing Derek wasn't going to tell him what was up anytime soon. "Just put it back in the bag when you're done, okay?"

"Yeah," Derek said, shooing him along.

He waited until he was sure Sam was gone before rapidly dialling in his own house's phone number. Marti answered in her sing-song voice.

"Hello, MacDonald-Venturi Residence!" she belted out cheerfully.

"Hey Smarti, can you get Casey on the phone?" he asked his little sister patiently.

"Okay Smerek!" Marti exclaimed and Derek could hear her drop the phone on the floor and her footsteps as she ran away to fetch her oldest step-sister.

About a minute later, Derek heard Casey tentatively ask into the phone, "Derek?"

"Casey," Derek said. "How is he?"

"Not good," Casey sounded very upset. "He's barely had a mouthful all day. I think I'm gonna take him to the hospital."

"Shit," Derek let out. "Where's Nora?"

"At Lizzie's hockey game in Mississauga."

"What about my dad?"

"He's working late."

Derek let out a deep breath, trying to remain calm. "Alright, who's home with you then? Just Marti and Tyler?"

"Edwin's here, too," Casey replied and then paused. "Derek, I think Tyler has a fever."

Derek knew she was at the end of her rope there, and began hurriedly unlacing his skates.

"Okay, I'm on my way, Case. Bundle Tyler up and wait on the porch for me. Tell Edwin he's in charge of Marti for now."

"But Derek, we don't have a car—" Casey began.

"Send a cab to the house. I'll be there by the time it gets there, okay?"

"Derek…" Casey's voice trembled a bit and Derek paused what he was doing.

"Case…I know. I'm scared too. But we're gonna get Tyler better again, okay? I promise you he's going to be alright."

And even though Casey knew that Derek couldn't know that for sure, she believed him.

"Okay," Casey said softly. "Derek? Hurry home."

"I will," he told her, promptly hanging up. He flung the cell-phone into Sam's bag and ripped off all of his hockey pads. He changed in record time, leaving all of his things scattered around the locker room (like he cared at a time like _this_) and just booked it out of the rink before anyone had a chance to ask what in God's name he was doing.


	8. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **_Thank you so much, I have the best reviewers on the planet! You guys totally make me want to keep writing and updating, so thanks! This update is for you!_

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Casey snuggled Tyler in closer against her, glad that Derek had told her to bundle him up. In the midst of all the chaos, she had forgotten how cold it had been getting outside and how, even at only 5:30, the sun was beginning to go down.

"Your daddy and I are gonna make sure you get all better, sweetie," she cooed to Tyler as she nuzzled him, watching down the street for either the cab or Derek. Hopefully both.

In the distance, she could make out the headlights of a car heading towards them. She couldn't tell if it was a cab or not, and breathed a sigh of relief when she finally realised that it, in fact, was a little white taxi.

The car pulled up along the sidewalk, and Casey walked over to the driver's side window.

"Hi, thanks for coming. Would you mind if we wait a minute? My—" Casey paused. _Her what? Boyfriend? Ex-lover? Step-brother? What?_ "—my son's father should be here any minute."

As if on cue, Casey saw a running figure turn the corner at full-speed. She smiled when she saw that it was Derek, running like he was competing in a marathon.

"Derek!" Casey flagged him over, as if he didn't know where the front of his house was.

Derek ran to her, and bent over double when he reached her, hands on his kneecaps, trying to catch his breath.

"Ready to go?" he asked in-between pants.

Casey nodded, a sense of security and a rush of hope coming over her as she looked into Derek's eyes. "Yeah, we're ready."

Derek set-up Tyler's car-seat, buckling it in as Casey instructed the driver on where they needed to go. Looking into Tyler's eyes, he could tell that something was definitely wrong. They didn't hold that glow—that sparkle that was inherited from Casey. He looked rather lethargic, barely moving as Derek buckled him in tightly.

"Hang in there, buddy," Derek said, brushing his lips against the baby's forehead. It was hot.

"He doesn't have an appointment, so we just have to take him to the emergency room," Casey informed Derek as the driver began doing his job.

"That's probably for the best," Derek responded, not taking his eyes off his tiny son. His cheeks were flushed with fever and his eyes had fallen shut in exhaustion.

"He's getting worse," Casey said fearfully, her eyes brimming with tears. "My mom said that his stomach was upset again this afternoon. And he _still_ hasn't eaten anything."

"It's okay, Case," Derek said soothingly, reaching over and placing one hand on her jean-clad thigh in comfort. "He's going be okay now; he's going to the hospital."

Casey didn't look so convinced, wiping the tears from her eyes and then resting her head on the corner of Tyler's car-seat.

Derek, of course, was not as cool as he seemed. Inside, he was completely freaking out. Something was terribly wrong with his son, his little baby boy. The most important thing in the world to him.

It's funny how people change.

_Casey stared down at the questions of the lame assignment. Derek couldn't believe that he had gotten stuck with HER, the worst person on EARTH. The girl who had entered his life not two weeks ago and was already driving him up a wall._

_She never shut up. She had to have a say in everything. She fought him tooth-and-nail about every little thing. She dared to challenge his role as dominator of the house._

_She was like nobody he had ever met before._

"_Can we just finish this stupid thing? I've got a date tonight," he glared across the table at Miss Goody-Goody Grade-Grubber._

_She glared right back at him. "_Fine_. Question eleven. Where do you see yourself in five years?"_

"_At university, surrounding by hundreds of hot chicks," he smirked his devilish smirk at her. _

_Casey rolled her eyes, writing his answer down. She hated being the interviewer, especially to an interviewee like _Derek_. What a stupid English assignment._

"_Question ten. Where do you see yourself in _ten_ years?"_

"_Playing for the NHL. With hot girls cheering and fawning over me," he smirked again._

_Casey looked up from the paper. "Don't you want a family?"_

_Derek shrugged. "I don't know. I guess maybe. Eventually."_

_Tapping her pencil against the edge of the table, she asked question #13. "What or who is the most important thing or person in your life?"_

_And immediately, Derek had replied, "Hockey. Hands down; hockey."_

That had been only a little over a year ago. Things had changed. He had changed.

Derek looked down at his son again.

He had _definitely_ changed.

"Derek, we're here," Casey said, nudging him from where she sat. Lost in his thoughts, Derek hadn't noticed that they had stopped moving and were parked right outside the ER of the hospital.

"Oh," Derek shook himself out of his reverie and opened his wallet. "Thanks," he said to the driver as he paid him. He helped Casey untangle Tyler from the seatbelts, and carried the car-seat into the emergency room. As Casey checked in at the desk, Derek sat down wearily in a chair nearby, bringing the car-seat up onto his lap so he could watch Tyler sleep.

"He's a little angel," an older-woman commented, and Derek looked over to see the grey-haired lady smiling next to him.

"Thanks," Derek smiled weakly.

"Poor thing not feeling too well?" she questioned, peering in to study the tiny baby inside the car-seat.

"He isn't really eating," Derek answered, frowning worriedly at his son.

The woman clucked her tongue in a "that's a shame" sound. "Aww, poor baby." She eyed Derek then. "He looks just like his father."

Derek felt his cheeks flush a bit under the old lady's soft gaze. "Thanks."

"I checked him in," he heard Casey say, and immediately looked up from Tyler's sleeping face. She apprehensively sat down on the chair next to him, her hands tightly clutching insurance papers.

Derek nodded and looked back to his left, at the lady. Except, now, she wasn't there. She wasn't anywhere in sight.

_Strange, _Derek thought to himself. He didn't have time to dwell on it or question his sanity, because Tyler's name was called and the trio were beckoned by a plump, round-faced nurse in blue printed scrubs.

"Come with me, please," the twentysomething year-old nurse told them, and led them to an examining room.

A few tests later, and Doctor Zimmer pronounced the diagnosis.

"I believe that young Tyler is suffering from Failure to Thrive," Dr. Zimmer said bleakly as he looked at the young, nervous couple in front of him.

"What's that?" Derek demanded, already not liking the sound of it.

"Will he be alright?" Casey asked simultaneously, gripping the arm of her chair with both hands in alarm.

"It can be, if not detected. Children who _fail to thrive_ don't receive or are unable to take in, retain, or utilise the calories needed to gain weight and grow quite as expected," the doctor explained.

"How did he get this?" Derek asked, praying that it wasn't something he had done. He was so knew to this whole father thing that he often worried if he was doing things right…

"Infants and toddlers can suffer from Failure to Thrive from many different factors. But, in Tyler's case, I would say that gastroesophageal reflux, along with chronic diarrhea and a sensitivity to his formula all triggered it. His esophagus is so irritated that he is refusing to eat simply because it hurts. Along with his stomach problems, which is preventing him from holding on to the nutrients and calories from the little food that's he has eaten, he is malnourished."

Casey's eyes filled up instantly with tears. "Oh my God," she spoke slowly. "My baby is malnourished. I'm a _horrible_ _mother_!" she cried out, dropping her face into her hands to cry.

"No, no, Casey," Derek quickly wrapped his arms around the sobbing girl in a hug. "Shh, it's not your fault." He looked up at the doctor nervously. "Uh… it's not our faults… right?"

"No, of course not," Dr. Zimmer soothed the pair. "I can see that you've been taking great care of this child. He's just having a problem with his stomach, that's all. I'll switch him to something milder and give him a heavier dose of his anti-reflux medication." He flipped open his prescription book.

Casey stopped crying, but still looked guilty, as if it was her fault that Tyler was there. The doctor suddenly stopped what he was doing, and looked over at the two.

"You said that he was born late last week, correct?"

"No; two weeks ago," Casey shook her head.

Dr. Zimmer frowned at that. "He is severely below normal weight, then." He bit the inside of his cheek. "I think it's best that we keep Tyler for a few days so we can feed him through the IV."

Derek's eyes widened. "Is…is that necessary?" he asked, not exactly liking the idea of his little guy staying overnight in the hospital. Especially without _him_ there.

"I'm afraid so," Dr. Zimmer replied. "While he's here, we can do an x-ray and perform a few tests to make sure there is no other damage; since he is so young."

Derek didn't respond, looking over at Casey, who looked completely crestfallen as she stared at little Tyler sleeping again on the examining table.

"Alright," Casey finally replied softly.


	9. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: **_I'm sorry but it may be awhile before my next update... I'm taking my computer to get fixed today (the top of my laptop is like hanging by a string because I've been avoiding taking the darn thing to get fixed because I don't want to part with it for however long they plan on keeping it!). But please keep reviewing so I can be all happy when I get my computer back lol. Hang in there and hope you enjoy this chapter!_

_---------------------------------------------------_

Derek practically had to drag Casey out of the hospital that night when visiting hours were over. They wouldn't let the two of them stay overnight, since Tyler had been set up in a nursery. There were several nurses who would be with him and the other few babies there, watching them 24/7, they assured Derek and Casey. And they promised to call if anything happened, although they told the two that their son would be just fine.

George and Nora both came to pick up the two sombre teens and Casey burst into tears as she hugged her mother out in the parking lot.

"I miss him already," she mumbled on the way home, clutching Tyler's empty car-seat to her as she stared despondently out the window.

Derek didn't admit it out loud, but he already missed the little guy, too. The car ride home seemed strange, and being in the MacDonald-Venturi house without a baby in there somehow seemed even stranger.

That night, Derek lay awake on his bed, listening for the sounds of his son, which he knew would never come. All he heard was the occasional loud sniffle from Casey, one thin wall away. It was obvious that she wasn't getting any sleep, either.

He suppressed the overwhelming urge he had to go over to her room and take her into his arms. He couldn't let himself get involved with her again. He couldn't have his heart broken again.

"_This…whatever it is we have…needs to stop," she had said to him, and he felt his whole world crumble at her words._

_He couldn't let it show, though; couldn't let her know his true feelings for her. Because it was obvious that she didn't feel the same. "Fine," he had passed it all of with a shrug, pretending it wasn't a big deal to him. Pretending his heart wasn't screaming as he stared into her suddenly cold blue eyes. "It ends now then."_

"_Good," Casey had said, and he retaliated by repeating her in a biting voice._

_Taking it one step further, he narrowed his eyes at her and snarled, "Let's pretend we never started this."_

"_Perfect," Casey had agreed, and whirled around; retreating back into her bedroom, letting him know for sure that it was all over._

_Teeth grinding in anger, Derek turned into his own bedroom and slammed the door for effect. Then, he had sunk down onto the floor, leaning up against the door as he cried for the first time since he was a little boy._

After that, he had promised that he would have nothing more to do with Casey. Nor too long after, however, he had found out that she was carrying his child, so he couldn't exactly write her out of his life completely.

But he could write her out as much as possible.

That's how the two of them had ended up compromising and only speaking of their son.

Now that Tyler was sick, however, Derek wanted nothing more to be there for Casey and for her to be there for him. To lean on each other at this time.

It was if she had read his mind, because not a minute later, he heard a soft rapping on his door.

"Yeah?" he asked into the darkness, and watched as the door hesitantly creaked open.

"Derek?" came a meek voice, and he found Casey stepping into the room, a glowing light from the hallway drifting in behind her.

"Come in," he told her gently, feeling that spot in his heart grip at the sight of her. She nodded silently, and crossed over the room, her silhouette the only thing he could distinguish in the dark—petite and feminine.

She looked uncomfortable as she came into his view, the moonlight from the window hitting her face in just the right angle. He realised it had been nearly a year since the last time she had been in his bedroom. Watching her trap her lower-lip between her teeth nervously, he remembered the last time she had visited his room.

_He was sitting at his desk, staring at his computer screen as he tried vainly to think up a subject for his science report. Glaring at the tantalising cursor on his blank Word Document page, he flared his nostrils, wondering why he had waited until last minute (AGAIN) to do his report._

_Suddenly his door burst open, and Derek whipped his head around angrily in order to yell at the person who dared to not knock before entering, but his words remained on his tongue, unmoving, as he found the new-found object of his desire standing in the doorway._

_She gave him an instant smile, one meant only for him. "Emily just called and needs a cram session before the French exam tomorrow," she spoke quickly, her smile turning into one of regret. "So I'm just going to stay over there for the night."_

_His face instantly fell. Nights were _their_ time. "Can't she study by herself?" he narrowed his eyes, inwardly cursing his next-door neighbour._

_Casey's eyes softened. "I'm sorry; I already promised I would go."_

"_Whatever," Derek mumbled, turning back to his blank computer screen. To the irritating cursor staring him in the face._

_He didn't hear her come closer until he felt arms wrap around his body from behind. He instantly melted back into her warm embrace. "That's why I'm here now," she whispered into his ear, her soft, sweet breath tickling the back of his neck, causing the thin hairs there to stand up to attention. "I thought we could have _our time_ a little earlier today," she said, and gently pressed her perfect lips against his earlobe. _

_His reaction was immediate, as he craned his neck around and quickly crushed his lips against hers. Swivelling around his leather computer chair, he pulled her into his lap and she straddled him eagerly, deepening the kiss still. He moved his hands down, moving them against her thighs, slipping up under the back of her shirt, simply feeling her as she intoxicated him._

_Yanking her top off, he threw it onto the floor, where their clothes always seemed to end up, and gathered her up into his arms before standing. She wrapped her legs around him as he moved them across the room, their lips not disconnecting once, and the two of them fell onto his unmade bed._

_His heart thumping loudly in his ears as she worked on the fly of his jeans, he suddenly felt a foreign word run through his mind. It echoed until it became a chant, getting louder and louder until Derek felt the word on his tongue, aching to resound into the air that was crackling with the electricity between them._

_But he swallowed it, as the Great Derek Venturi _never_ used the L word. Ever._

_Yet it had never come so close to being voiced before, and that scared him to the point where he almost pulled away from his step-sister and told her to leave._

_Almost._

_He did, however, stiffen a little bit, and Casey automatically noticed._

"_What's wrong?" she asked, pulling away, staring up into Derek's lustful brown eyes._

_Derek's eyes remained on her swollen, pink lips, bruised from their passionate kissing, and he shook himself. An original Derek smirk graced his lips, and he leaned down, pressing his mouth against hers again._

"_Nothing," he murmured against her lips, his hands moving to the clasp of her bra, getting back to the task at hand._

He had almost told her that he loved her then. Which was ridiculous, because they had only been together for a couple of weeks then. There was no way he could feel that strongly about a girl in such a short amount of time. Especially his step-sister.

"You didn't sleep," Casey's voice brought him out of his reverie. It was more of a statement than a question, and her eyes were still trained on his.

"Yeah," Derek replied softly, swallowing to rid himself of the memories that which had just invaded his mind. "I can't."

"Me neither," Casey replied, looking away. "I miss him so much."

"Me too," Derek confided. Moving over a bit in his bed, he made some room for her and then patted the bed invitingly.

She looked unsure. "Derek…"

"Come on," he insisted. "It doesn't have to mean anything, Case."

Knowing that he was right, and in desperate need for a bit of comfort, Casey slowly nodded and slipped into the bed beside him. He pulled the comforter up to her chest, as it was cold in his bedroom and could tell she was shivering ever-so-slightly.

"Thanks," she whispered, settling back against one of his fluffy pillows.

Derek didn't respond, but nodded, and a silence fell over the dim room. After several moments of complete quiet, Derek thought that Casey had dozed off. So, when she spoke, he was surprised.

"I was thinking to myself… in my room a little while ago… what would I do if Tyler _didn't_ get better? How could I go back to being just a regular teenager?"

Derek glanced over at her sombre expression. "Don't say that, Case."

Casey eyed him sideways. "We have to think about it, Derek. The possibility is there. He's so young and weak."

"_Stop it_," Derek snapped, sitting up angrily.

Casey sat up with him, taking in the expression he was trying to hide. He was scared.

"I'm scared too," she breathed, grasping his forearm. He looked up at her, this time not masking the fear in his eyes. Not replying, he simply wrapped an arm around her and hugged her to him, pressing his face into her vanilla-scented hair, closing his eyes to find relief in her embrace.

He was downright terrified for his tiny, helpless son in the hospital.

The two of them fell into a restless, dreamless sleep that night, still wrapped up in each other's comforting embrace.

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"Derek!"

"Casey!"

Two voices brought the teens back to the land of the living, and the pair looked up to see Edwin and Lizzie standing in the doorway. The sun was shining in through the window, and Derek blinked rapidly to get rid of the stinging sensation in his eyes.

"What do you want?" he asked, voice muffled with sleep.

"Mom wants you to get ready for school," Lizzie responded, her eyebrow still arched inquisitively from finding the two of them in bed together.

Casey rolled over and looked at the clock while Derek grunted, "Are you serious?"

"I am _not_ going to school today," Casey said as she stood up. "_I_ am going to visit my _son_ in the _hospital_." With defiant agitation, she stormed out of the bedroom to go talk to her mother.

Derek's head plopped down onto his pillow. "She's right; I'm not going," he told his brother and younger step-sister, stifling a yawn in the process. The two kids retreated and Derek managed to pull himself out of bed, tiredly dragging himself downstairs to find both Nora and Casey engaged in a heated debate.

"I cannot go to _school_ with my own _child_ in the hospital," Casey stressed, blue eyes narrowing at her mother. "_You_, of all people, should understand that."

Nora continued mixing up so oatmeal as she glanced at her daughter. "Casey, honey, there is nothing you can do at the hospital. You'll just be sitting there, waiting. He'll heal with or without you there, so you mind as well go to school to get your mind off of things and continue with your education. You and Derek can go visit him after school. Trust me, it's for the best."

Casey through her hands up into the air and exclaimed, "_Ughhh_!" in exasperation. "Mom, I _won't_ be able to concentrate."

"Casey, you're going. End of discussion," Nora said testily.

Setting her jaw, Casey slumped back in her seat and folded her arms angrily. Derek, feeling awkward and not exactly knowing what to do, simply sat down next to her.

He didn't say anything through out breakfast, which was unusual for him. Casey ran upstairs to get ready for a dreadfully long day of school, and when she walked outside to head to school, she was completely shocked to see Derek standing there, waiting for her.

"You waited for me," she stated bluntly.

Derek nodded, tucking his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. "I called the hospital up this morning for an update. They're still treating Tyler…he seems to be the same, but at least they're feeding him through the IV."

Casey's demeanour instantly turned bleak. "So he's…he's not getting better?"

"They didn't say either way, Case," Derek said honestly with a sigh. "They're doing everything they can. I gave them my cell phone number and told them to call me with updates. I'm going to keep it on all day."

Casey nodded, fighting back the tears that were threatening to blur her vision. But she gave Derek the tiniest smile, grateful that he had thought of such things while she was foolishly fighting with her mother like some kind of bratty teenager who didn't have a sick son in the hospital.

"Tell me as soon as they call," she stressed to him as they slowly began their trek to school.

"'Course," Derek nodded, giving her a half-assed version of his traditional smirk.

He couldn't offer her anything more.


	10. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: **_Wow. I am so sorry guys... thanks for hanging in there. I had no idea it would take a whole freakin' month to fix my computer. Ugh. I apologise to everyone who has been patiently waiting for an update and I thank everyone for the reviews and encourangement in the time I've been gone... my e-mail inbox is still filled! I will be going through them all and also hopefully updating quite soon... that is if anyone is still interested in reading this story, lol. A tout a l'heure!_

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Emily actually had the audacity to talk about the stupid school dance that morning, while Casey was worrying about her newborn son in the hospital. She bit her tongue to keep from lashing out at her best-friend during their first period study-hall. It wasn't until about twenty minutes into their one-sided conversation when Emily asked about Casey's "brother."

"They kept him overnight," Casey said sullenly. "He's weak and malnourished."

"Malnourished?" Emily repeated, dark brown eyes nearly as wide as saucers. "Didn't your mother _feed_ him?!"

"_She's been doing the best she can_!" Casey snapped loudly, earning looks from all the other students around her.

Emily, taken-aback at her best-friend's reaction, apologised quickly. Casey merely nodded, expressionless as she rummaged through her backpack for a book—any book—to read so she wouldn't have to listen to Emily stick her foot in her mouth anymore.

Focusing on her Canadian History textbook, she began to read about Iroquois when she heard Emily talking again.

"Can I borrow your French homework? I couldn't figure out number seven," Emily said, rolling her ballpoint pen in-between her fingers as she looked at Casey.

"I didn't do it," Casey stated flatly, looking back down at her textbook.

Emily gasped. "You _what_? _You_ didn't do your _homework_? But…you're Casey MacDonald, you _al_—"

"I was a little busy, Em," Casey growled, slamming her textbook down on the table. "I was in the _hospital_ because my _s_—"

"Case!" a voice interrupted her just then, and the two girls looked up to see Derek rushing over to them. He had his cell-phone in his hand. Sam was in tow, looking befuddled. "The hospital just called. Tyler lost another 0.4 kilograms."

Casey immediately burst into tears, feeling all hope fly away from her. Derek quickly pulled her into a hug, rocking her softly as they made a scene in front of the entire packed study-hall.

"Why isn't he getting better?" she sobbed into his shoulder, and Derek looked up to see that everybody was staring at the pair of them. Helping her up from her chair, he wordlessly took her out of the study-hall and into the empty school corridor.

"They're going to run some tests today and to find out," he told her gently, his face slightly contorted as he tried to hold back his own pain. He had to stay strong for Casey.

"I wanna go see him now," she sniffled into his shirt and he nodded, feeling the same way.

"Let's get outta here then," he pulled back and gave her a light smile.

She wiped her cheeks and her nose, silently following him, her mind clouded and spirit broken. Emily and Sam were left behind, dumfounded as their best-friends left without even a glance at them.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Derek managed to sneak them out of school, being the pro that he was, and got them a cab to the hospital. Once there, the two of them strode up to the front service desk with determination.

"Hi," Derek said to the woman at the desk, not waiting for a response before continuing. "My son is an in-patient here and I'd like to know what floor he's on."

"Name?" the woman asked, unimpressed.

"His name's Tyler MacDonald-Venturi," Casey replied, wringing her fingers impatiently as the woman typed it in.

"Eighth floor, up in Nursery B," the woman finally responded.

"Thank you," the two teens said, and took off for the elevator.

"Why isn't the food fattening him up?" Casey asked aloud as she and Derek waited for one of the elevators to arrive.

"We'll find out," Derek told her, punching in the "up" button again with irritation. "_These damn things are so slow_," he remarked under his breath in frustration, glaring at the elevator door.

Derek demanded to speak to a doctor as soon as they got to the infant infirmary.

"Tyler's physician is busy at this moment—" the nurse at the desk began.

"_I don't care_!" Derek looked outraged, his eyes so wild that Casey instinctively slid her hand into his. Feeling this, he paused, feeling a gentle rush of calm flood his body. Taking a deep breath and then exhaling, Derek now more calmly asked the nurse when the doctor would be free.

"I'll page you when he's finished with his patient," the nurse promised. "You two can go have a seat over there." She jerked her head to a row of seats nearby, none occupied.

"Can we see Tyler?" Casey implored, looking hopefully at the woman.

"I think it's best you wait for Dr. Zimmer," the woman said with a regretful look.

Casey's face fell, and before she could dispute this, Derek was squeezing her hand, steering her away, towards the chairs.

"Derek, I want to see him!" Casey insisted as they moved.

"Maybe she's right; we need the doctor there so he can explain what's going on," Derek said quietly. He was afraid that Tyler was even worse-looking than they had seen him when they left him yesterday. He didn't think he—or Casey—could handle that, and it would be best that Dr. Zimmer was there to reassure them that their son was going to be alright.

Casey reluctantly sat down in one of the chairs after this, knowing that Derek was right. She gripped the arms of the chair nervously as she stared up at the TV screen on the wall. Some Soap Opera was on, the volume soft so she could barely hear what the couple on screen were fighting about, but Casey stared at the screen anyway. She wasn't really watching; she was simply just zoning out. She heard Derek get up and grab a magazine from a table in the corner of the room. He jiggled his foot apprehensively as he tried to read an article about one of his favourite hockey players.

It felt like hours before the nurse called over to him that Dr. Zimmer was on his way. Derek quickly put the magazine away and Casey sat up a little straighter in her chair. As soon as the doctor was in their view, the two of them bolted up and rushed over to him.

"Mr. Venturi, Ms. MacDonald," the doctor formally nodded in greetings.

Derek ignored the pleasantries. "What's going on with our son?" he almost demanded bluntly.

If Casey wasn't desperately wondering the same thing, she would have shot Derek a dirty look for being so rude.

But Dr. Zimmer knew that the two teenagers were anxious, and didn't even flinch at Derek's impoliteness. "Well…" he began, letting out a huff of breath that ruffled his thick moustache. "Quite frankly, Tyler isn't doing as well as we had hoped."

"W-why?" Casey felt her face draining of colour.

"The IV is giving him nutrients that he hasn't been getting, but he can't hold any of it. His stomach is very weak. He's losing weight rapidly. We've run some tests and found that he has a severe form of gastroenteritis caused by a _Giardia_ infection. The reflux problem he has been having caused an excess amount of acid in his stomach and activated a series of cysts along his digestive track," the doctor explained.

"What does _that_ mean?" Derek snapped. He wanted it in English, not doctor-babble. "Is he going to be okay?"

"Usually, this infection is curable with high doses of a mild drug," Dr. Zimmer continued.

"_Usually_?" Casey asked softly, not liking the way he had used the word.

The doctor frowned. "Tyler is extremely weak at this point. Even with treatment, we can't really determine the outcome at this point."

Derek felt his mouth go dry. He knew what the doctor was getting at.

Casey, on the other hand, felt the room begin to spin around her. "The outcome?" she asked, the word catching in her throat.

"I'm sorry to tell you this," the doctor said as gently as he could, "but you need to be prepared for the possibility."

Derek felt his heart stop in his chest.

"It could be fatal."

And down Casey fell, leaving Derek to catch her at the last millisecond as she fainted without a sound.


	11. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: **_I'm so glad that people are still interested in this story! Thanks so much for the reviews! And lol the doctor drabble from the last chapter was definitely just research. I am not THAT knowledgable. haha. Hope you like this chapter!_

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Casey felt a cool breeze hitting her face first, and she willed her eyes to open. She blinked several times, adjusting to the bright light above her, and found Derek standing above her, fanning her with a magazine.

"Are you okay, Case?" he asked worriedly, seeing that her eyes had opened.

Everything flew back to her, and she let out a strangled cry. "My baby!" she cried, bursting into tears. Derek let the magazine slip to the floor and wrapped his arms around her thin frame. He couldn't remember her eating a thing since Tyler had been placed in the care of the hospital.

In fact, he couldn't remember eating a thing _himself_, either.

"_Not my baby, not my baby_," Casey repeated over and over through her tears, and Derek rocked her gently, stroking her back in comfort as she let it all out.

It took all he had for him to keep it together, himself. "It's okay, Case, it's okay. Shh…" he murmured to her, letting her tears soak his shirt straight through.

"Why him?" she asked, her voice muffled as she buried her face in his collar. "_Why_?"

Derek had been wondering the same thing. Not having an answer, he just simply let her cry until she was out of tears and had exhausted herself. Physically weakened, she fell asleep, a mess in his arms, and he carefully laid her back down on the examining table in the empty room he had carried her into. Dr. Zimmer told him that they could have the room for as long as they liked, and sent them his apologies before he left.

Derek felt like punching the guy in the face, even though he knew that it wasn't his fault that his son was sick.

He watched Casey sleep, her face displaying torment even in slumber, as he sat back in a stiff grey chair next to her.

There was a knock on the door, and Derek looked up to see the nurse from the front desk walk in.

"How is she?" she asked, peering over at Casey.

Derek glanced over with her, his eyes roaming over Casey's sleeping form absently before turning back to the nurse. "Can I see him now?"

The nurse looked a bit surprised. "Uh… yeah, sure," she nodded. "I'll take you if you'd like."

Derek stood up, following the nurse quietly out the door.

Apprehensively, he walked down the hall, with each step getting more and more anxious. "Right through here," the nurse said suddenly, opening up a door. The room was filled with several of those incubators in a row, each containing a tiny baby.

"He's the last one over there," the nurse said, jerking her neck over to where his son lay.

Derek swallowed heavily, barely noticing a male nurse that sat in the corner of the room, looking at charts. He didn't rush over to the last incubator, suddenly unsure about seeing Tyler, especially without Casey there to lean on—to be strong for. Right now it was just him. And he wasn't sure how he would react all alone.

Finally arriving at the last one in the row, Derek to a step forward and peered into the incubator. There was little Tyler, looking so much tinier and breakable than he ever had. One small arm was hooked up to two IVs, and he was also hooked up to a heart monitor. The machine next to him displayed his vital signs, and Derek noticed that his fever was still high.

He stopped at the infant's face, taking in his closed eyes and tiny nose and puckered lips as he serenely slept. Derek found it all begin to blur and didn't realise until he felt wetness splash down his cheeks that he was crying.

Laying his hands down on the glass, he cried as he stared into his innocent son's face. One that held so much possibility…

He wanted to teach him to walk, to run, to talk, to laugh. To shoot a puck and catch a baseball. To tell him about women, about life, about the world. To see his first birthday, his high school graduation, his wedding.

And, looking up at the IV that was dripping down into his son's fragile body, Derek realised that all of those things, all of the dreams he had for his son, might not ever happen.

He stared through the glass at the best thing in his life, and cried like he had never cried before.

_I'm looking at you through the glass  
Don't know how much time has passed  
Oh God it feels like forever…  
But no one ever tells you that forever feels like home  
Sitting all alone inside your head_

'_Cause I'm looking at you through the glass  
Don't know how much time has passed  
All I know is that it feels like forever  
But no one ever tells you that forever feels like home_

_Sitting all alone inside your head…_

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Casey woke up with a jolt, her son's name on her lips. Wide-eyed, she looked around her at the empty room. Derek wasn't there, but she could guess where he was.

Not wasting any time, she hurried out of the room and followed the signs in front of her. A nurse directed her to where she would find her son, and, bursting into the room just behind the nurse, she stopped in her tracks. There was Derek, on his knees before their baby boy, his head drooping down into his hands. His shoulders shook as he sobbed, uncaring who saw.

"Derek!" she called softly to him, rushing to him and falling onto the ground beside him.

"Casey," Derek looked up, his face contorted in a mix of agony and despair. He placed his hands on each of her shoulders. "Don't," he shook his head, his lips trembling. "Don't look at him, Casey. Don't look through the glass." He wanted to spare her from the grief, from the utter pain he was feeling stab his heart until it bled.

Casey felt her heart tighten and a lump get stuck in her throat. "I-I have to," she shook her head quickly, backing away from his as she got back onto her feet.

Once she peered in through the glass, where their son lay, she realised why Derek had tried to stop her. He looked tinier than the day he was born, all soft bone and tissue. His small face pale, but still as innocent as always. He was sleeping, hooked up to several different machines surrounding him.

He looked bad. Really bad.

Sinking back onto the ground, her legs suddenly unable to support her, she let Derek pull him practically on his lap and the two of them cried together in the middle of the nursery.

------------------------------------------------------

Emily rang the doorbell of her best-friend's house, tapping her foot on the small porch as she waited for somebody to open the door. Casey—and Derek—had both left school so quickly that day, and for the past two hours, Emily had tried calling Casey's cell-phone. All she kept getting was her voicemail.

Ever nosy and wanting to know just what the hell was going on, Emily had marched next door to the MacDonald-Venturi home.

Lizzie answered the door, a curious expression on her face when she saw Emily.

"Hi," Emily said slowly, giving the younger sister of her best-friend an awkward smile.

"Hi," Lizzie responded, not smiling back.

"Uh… is Casey home?"

Lizzie gave a short nod. "She's in her room, though. I don't think she wants company."

Emily cocked her head to the side with interest, her eyebrows furrowing. "Did something happen with your little brother?"

Frowning slightly, Lizzie opened her mouth to respond when they both heard a voice ask from inside, "Liz, who is it?"

Although the voice sounded somewhat strained, Emily immediately knew who the voice belonged to. She smiled. _Derek_.

"It's Emily. She's looking for Casey," Lizzie responded, not taking her eyes off of Emily.

Derek then appeared at the doorway, and the smile on Emily's face quickly vanished. She had never seen Derek like this before. His hair was extremely dishevelled, his eyes red as if he had been crying. His face looked pale and aged, even though it had only been that morning when Emily had last seen him as his old self.

"Derek?" Emily couldn't help but blurt. "What _happened_?"

Derek looked down at Lizzie, silently communicating for her to shoo, and the wise youngster left without a word. He then turned back to Emily, a worn-out expression on his tired face. "Things aren't looking so good for Tyler, Emily," he said carefully.

"Oh—I'm sorry," Emily said sympathetically. "Your parents must be a mess. Is there anything my family and I can do to help out? We can take Marti for awhile or bring over some dinner or—"

Derek held up a hand, silencing the rambling girl. "No, thanks," he said.

"Derek?" a gentle voice came from inside the house. "Who's at the door?"

Casey then appeared at the doorway, her face blotchy and swollen from crying. Derek looked down at her, his expression instantly softening. She peered over at their guest.

"Emily," Casey said, her tone strange and sad.

"Are you okay, Casey?" Emily asked, biting the inside of her cheek. "I'm sorry about your brother. If you want, we can talk. I can relate… my little brother was in the hospital when he was two because the doctors thought that he had whooping cough," she shook her head as the memory came back to her. "It was just awful how—"

"_It's not the same_!" Casey practically barked, interrupting her best-friend, who instantly halted, taken aback. Derek gently wrapped an arm around Casey, hugging his stepsister from the side.

"Well, it—it kind of is, Casey. I mean I—I didn't know if—" Emily began again, and Casey's nostrils flared.

"It is NOT the SAME!" she exclaimed, bursting into tears again, shocking Emily completely. Derek instantly hugged her more tightly to him and the fragile brunette wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face deep into his chest and letting her tears soak his flannel shirt.

"I'm so scared, I'm so scared," Emily could hear Casey mumble and Derek responding by gently shushing her and rubbing her back tenderly. Emily had never seen Casey and Derek act like this with each other before. It was almost like they were…

_No, _Emily inwardly rolled her eyes to herself for thinking what she was thinking.

"Casey," Emily started, a little gentler this time. She reached out to pat her best-friend's shoulder. "It's all gonna be okay…"

"You don't know that," Casey let go of Derek and pushed him away so she could glare at Emily, her face wet with tears and red with anger. "You don't know _anything_!" With that, she turned and fled, running up the stairs to her bedroom and audibly slamming the door.

Emily gaped at the sudden outburst. Derek flinched, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. His shirt was drenched from Casey's tears. "Uh…maybe you should go, Emily," Derek said, not looking her in the eyes.

"No," Emily shook her head. "Casey clearly needs somebody right now."

"I'll go talk to her," Derek said, surprising Emily. He coughed, masking his abrupt response. "Uh, you know, just because we're… kinda going through this whole thing with Tyler together…"

Emily had never seen Derek become so fidgety as he spoke. Usually he was confident and rather smug. Now he seemed nervous and exhausted. Tyler must be very important to him, that was clear.

"But I can relate too," Emily insisted, pushing past Derek to actually walk inside the house after all this time. "I'll cheer her up." Before Derek could protest, Emily was rushing up the stairs, here crazy curls bouncing with every step. Derek shut the front door and sank down onto the couch, rubbing his temples to soothe his incoming migraine.

----------------------------------------------------------

"Casey?" Emily knocked softly on the wooden door to her best-friend's bedroom.

"What?" came a clearly agitated voice from the other side of the door.

"Can I come in?"

"…yes…"

Opening the door slowly, Emily peered into the room, finding Casey lying miserably on her bed, a little blue baby blanket clutched in her hands.

"Are you okay?" Emily as gently, even though the answer was obvious. She shut the door behind her and slinked over to Casey's bed, plopping herself down on the edge of it.

"No," Casey responded in a small voice, not looking up so she could hide her filling eyes from her best-friend. She took a deep breath to calm herself, rubbing the soft blanket between her fingertips absently. "I'm so scared, Em."

Emily raised her eyebrows at this, glad that Casey was ready to open up to her. "I know, Casey," she reached out and touched her knee in comfort. "When they hospitalised Demy, I thought that he was going to be too sick to ever come home," she admitted, giving Casey a sad look. "But he's okay now. And there's a good chance that Tyler will be, too. I mean, he is part MacDonald and part Venturi, right? You guys are all fighters," she smiled with a wink.

Casey couldn't help the tiny smile that fell upon her lips. She looked up at her best-friend, her blue eyes still shining with salty tears. "Emily…" she began slowly, knowing she couldn't keep this secret any longer. "There's… something I should tell you. Something I should have told you from the beginning."

"What?" Emily looked interested, her dark brown eyes searching her best-friend's face.

Swallowing, Casey took another deep breath. _Here it goes…_

"Em… Tyler isn't my brother. He's my son."


	12. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: **_Dumm dumm dummmm! Emily knows now! hehe thanks for all the reviews everyone, they make me smile! And, of course, they make me want to continue with the story. So here's the next chapter... hope you all enjoy!_

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Emily's eyes became wide as saucers and her mouth literally dropped open. "Wha…_what_?" she asked in an astonished tone. She then shook her head violently. "No…no, you're lying to me. I mean… he looks… he totally looks half-MacDonald and half-_Venturi_."

"He…he is," Casey said slowly, watching Emily's face intently as it all clicked for her best-friend. Several different emotions passed across the curly-haired girl's face.

"You mean you and…"

"Derek," Casey filled in, looking away slightly ashamedly. She was embarrassed for several different reasons. One main one being that she had never told her best-friend the truth, in all this time.

The other main reason was that she was openly admitting that she had slept with her own stepbrother.

Emily just sat there, silently, her mouth gaping and eyes wide as she tried to process this whole shocking declaration.

"But you guys _hate_ each other," was the first thing Emily said, blinking up at her best-friend in utter bewilderment.

Casey couldn't stop the laugh that sputtered from her lips. It had seemed that the two of them hated each other—always picking on each other, starting fights, making each other's lives miserable. At first, it had been real. The hatred, the competition. But somewhere down the line, things had changed. Lines crossed and blended together. Fighting became flirting. On the outside, things looked the same from a third person point of view. But, behind closed doors, things had changed.

"_You're the most conceited, arrogant JERK I've ever met!" Casey screamed, stomping upstairs to her bedroom._

_Derek glared after her, hearing her door slam before he could make a witty retort. The whole family was rolling their eyes at the dinner table, and George scolded his son for being so insensitive to his stepsister._

"_Yeah, whatever," Derek muttered and placed his fork down on the table. "I'm finished."_

"_Good, you can go to your room and do your homework. No TV for you tonight," George said, eyeing him pointedly._

"_Fine," Derek shrugged. Like that was some big punishment. He scooted out of his chair and took the stairs two at a time. Instead of going to his room, however, he went right into Casey's._

_She was there, lying on her bed impishly, waiting for his arrival._

"Jerk_?" Derek asked, shutting and locking the door behind him before advancing._

_Casey's blue eyes were teasing. "_Conceited, arrogant _jerk," she nodded, a playful smile gracing her features._

"_Ouch," Derek said, pretending to look hurt as he got onto her bed._

"_That's what you get for bringing up the whole grade-grubbing thing," she shrugged unapologetically._

"_Don't be a poor sport," he smirked as he dipped his head down to brush his lips against the side of her exposed neck._

_Casey let out a soft moan at the feel of his gentle touch, and let her eyes flutter shut as a shiver ran down her spine. "Oh, I'm hardly a poor sport," she replied breathily, slipping her hands under his shirt and easily guiding it over his head._

_Derek chuckled, leaning down to find her lips. "Grade grubber," he teased, pressing her body down onto the bed so she was now under him._

_Casey's eyes snapped open. "Hey!" she thwapped him on the shoulder as she attempted to glare angrily at him._

_Derek let out a full-out laugh this time. "It's okay," he told her, his hand coming up to tenderly stroke her shiny brown hair away from her face. He pressed his forehead against hers, a smile playing on his lips._

"_You're MY little grade grubber."_

_Casey pitifully failed to stop the grin that tugged at her mouth. She gave him a good-natured eye roll, and snaked her arms up his bare spine. Burying one hand in his soft, messy hair, she forced his lips onto her own awaiting ones._

"_As long as I'm yours," she breathed as his lips strayed from hers to trail up her jaw-line. Then she felt her cheeks grow heated as she realised she had said that out loud._

_But Derek didn't seem phased at all by her words. "Mine," she heard him growl softly in agreement against her skin before reaching her earlobe and giving it a teasing nibble._

"_Mine."_

She used to be his. They used to be each other's. Now they were separate. The only thing connecting them was their little son, whom they had made together. Baby Tyler, who was in the hospital, growing weaker as each minute ticked by.

Casey felt the smile on her lips quickly dissolve, and tears spring to her eyes for the umpteenth time. "Oh God, Emily," she choked out. "_What if he doesn't make it_?"

Hurriedly suppressing all of the unanswered questions she had about this whole unbelievable Casey-and-Derek-Had-Sex news, Emily wrapped her arms around her best-friend.

"Shhh," Emily soothed, running her hand down the petite girl's back in consolation.

Upon hearing Casey breaking down again as he left the bathroom, Derek quickly let himself into Casey's bedroom.

Emily watched carefully as the popular hockey player, eyes only on the trembling brunette, gathered Casey into his arms without a word. Casey sagged against him, her knees nearly giving way as she depended on Derek's strength—in more ways than one.

It was then that Emily fully believed it all. The way Derek began whispering comforting words into Casey's ear for only her to hear; the way Casey held on to Derek as if her life was depending on it; the way Derek gently stroked Casey's long hair; the way Casey's sobs subsided instantly. It all became so painfully clear that Emily had to wonder why she had never noticed before.

The two pulled away and it was as if they were the only people in the room.

"Do you want to go visit him?" Derek asked softly, his hand absently running up and down her arm relaxingly.

"Yes," Casey nodded in response, wiping the tears away from her cheeks.

Derek nodded knowingly, and gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze. "I'll go see if my dad will drive us." He pulled away to leave, and that was when he seemed to finally notice that Emily was there. He looked at her, eyes empty in a way that Emily had never seen before, in all the years she had known him. Then he walked out the door.

Emily's surprised, wide brown eyes looked back at Casey, who had her arms wrapped around herself protectively and was staring at the floor, lost in thought.

And Emily understood.

"Call me when you get back… you know, if you need a friend," she said as gently as possible, placing a hand on Casey's shoulder.

Casey nodded slowly, looking up at Emily, the same empty expression on her face as Derek's had held. "Thanks, Em," she replied weakly.

Knowing that there was nothing else to do, and that Casey and Derek needed some time alone, Emily slipped out of the room and out of the MacDonald-Venturi home, her outlook on the two infamous, bickering stepsiblings forever changed.

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"The truth is… he's still not making any progress," Doctor Zimmer said regretfully to the young parents that stood before him.

Casey's lower lip began to quiver. "Wh-why not? Isn't there s-something you can do?"

Doctor Zimmer frowned, looking back down at the infant's charts that he held in his hands. "We've been doing all that we can. Most of the drugs that we would use to treat something like this would be too harsh on his tiny body."

"Come on… there's gotta be something, Doc," Derek began, looking desperate. "I mean… you've seen this happen to babies before, right?"

The doctor nodded glumly. "I have. The final results, however, were never to my liking…" he tried to say it as carefully as possible.

"Oh my God," Casey felt her legs give way again and Derek grabbed her, letting her collapse onto his chest, wrapping her up tightly in his arms as the world around her began to spin uncontrollably.

"_Oh my God, oh my God_," she repeated, her voice becoming hysteric as she began to hyperventilate.

"It's okay, Casey, it's okay," Derek hurriedly hushed her, trying to keep his own emotions at bay as he looked up at the doctor pleadingly. "Please, Doc… there's gotta be something. _Anything_."

Doctor Zimmer studied the boy's frantic look, for the first time taking notice of just how young the two parents really were.

"There's an experimental drug," the doctor began slowly, not sure if he should really be doing this. "The results have been inconclusive… we're not even exactly sure if it actually works yet—"

"Give it to Tyler!" Derek blurted before the doctor was even done explaining it.

"Mr. Venturi… as I said, the results are inconclusive, and it would be a risk administering the drug to such a young, weak child."

"And what if you don't give it to him? What are his chances right now?" Derek asked, looking the doctor square in the eye, his defiant glare almost intimidating.

"Not very good," the doctor admitted.

"Please don't let him die," Casey said, her voice muffled from Derek's shirt.

Derek looked pained as he heard the pleading words of the girl in his arms. He looked back at the doctor. "Give him the experimental drug."

"Mr. Venturi," Dr. Zimmer began again, looking slightly exasperated. "You need to be aware of all the risks involved. There's a high risk of blood clots, of heart failure, of—"

"Give it to him!" Casey demanded, breaking away from Derek's hold to look at the doctor. "Please," she gave a false look of bravery as she blinked up at Dr. Zimmer. "Please, give it to our son."

And Doctor Zimmer slowly nodded. "Come with me and we'll have you fill out the paperwork."


	13. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: **_Thanks for the reviews, please keep them coming! And just so you remember, things that are in italics in this story are flashbacks. Well, except for this author note, lol._

_----------------------------------------------------------------------_

_Tears flowed freely from the girl's eyes, and she buried her face in her hands as her parents checked her out of the facility. Casey watched as the petite redhead raised her head up and looked over at her and the other curious girls. Instantly, the girl burst into tears again, hiding her face from view._

"_What happened?" Casey asked, not able to take her eyes off of the inconsolable girl. She remembered her from a few of her classes. She was fifteen and really far along in her pregnancy._

"_She had her baby," the girl next to Casey said matter-of-factly. "A baby girl."_

_Casey eyed the girl next to her, knowing there was more to the story. "And?"_

"_And," the gossipy girl clicked her tongue, "she didn't make it."_

_Casey felt her stomach drop at that. Looking back over at the sobbing redhead down the hall, she felt her heart go out to the girl. _

_Her arms wrapped around the bulge of her stomach. She couldn't imagine losing her baby… she was already so attached to him or her already._

Casey stared down at her twiddling thumbs as this memory hit her hard. Suddenly, it was like she could feel it… could feel exactly how the poor redheaded girl felt that day, so many months ago.

She could feel her little son falling away from her grasp. And it was the most horrible feeling in the world.

She looked up as Derek came back, holding two Styrofoam cups filled with hot coffee. He handed one to her and she took it appreciatively.

"Any word?" he asked, looking over at her.

She shook her head dismally. "Nothing." It had been over an hour since the doctors had administrated the experimental drug on tiny Tyler, and they hadn't told them anything since.

"God, I hate waiting like this," Derek grunted in frustration, taking a long swig of the hot drink. It was her second cup of coffee, but his fourth. She could already tell that he didn't need anymore caffeine. He was already shaky and wired, his legs trembling as he sat in his chair. He was already antsy, and the caffeine most certainly was not helping.

They had called Nora and George to let them know what was going on. The two had immediately offered to come up for support, but the teens had declined, knowing that they needed to do this themselves. Having Nora and George there would only add to their anxiety.

Emily had called, too. She had seen Sam stop by their house to drop off Derek's hockey equipment and to see what had happened, and Emily—being Emily—had run right over to him and told him everything. _All_ of it.

Then, Sam had called. Derek didn't want to have to explain everything to him, since now was not the best time, so he had just let the call go to his voicemail. Later, the two of them had listened to it on speaker phone.

"_Hey Derek, it's Sam… wow, I just heard everything, man. Emily told me. It's just wow… you guys could have told me. But anyway… I hope the baby's doing okay. Call me if you need anything. I mean… _anything_, bro. Talk to ya later, D."_

The message choked Casey up a little bit. Derek even seemed a little quiet after that, as if he was reflecting on the voicemail.

"He's a good friend," Casey commented quietly, not daring to meet Derek's eyes.

Derek surprisingly nodded at this, his head also bent down low. "Yeah," he responded, his tone just as quiet.

Another hour went by with no word. Waiting was beginning to become unbearable for the two teen parents.

"_Why haven't they told us anything_?" Derek growled in annoyance, slamming down his empty coffee cup. He stood up, knocking over his chair in the process. Not bothering to pick it up, he marched right over to the front desk.

The receptionist looked up at him expectantly.

"I want to know what's going on with my son," Derek asked through gritted teeth.

The pretty, young receptionist blinked several times. "Name please?"

"MacDonald-Venturi," Derek sighed in aggravation. "Tyler."

She typed something in on the computer. "Doctor Zimmer will be with you shortly."

Derek didn't look very satisfied. Without thanking her, he spun around and strolled back over to Casey, who was anxiously fiddling with her long dark hair.

"What's going on?" she pressed as soon as he walked back to her.

"The doctor will be with us shortly," Derek rolled his eyes as he sat down. _A likely story_, he thought in irritation.

Casey sighed, feeling just as frustrated. She wanted to know what was going on with her son. Was he doing better? Worse? The same?

Was he even alive?

_Don't think that_! Casey immediately chided herself. She looked over at Derek, who looked like he was ready to kill somebody if they didn't fill him in on what was going on. Seeing his tense expression, Casey impulsively reached out, placing a calming hand on his knee. It seemed to have the effect she was going for, as his face relaxed slightly and he sank into his chair a little more.

She left her hand there.

The clock ticked by slowly before, finally, Casey noticed Doctor Zimmer approaching them.

"Derek!" Casey quickly yelped, slapping him on the leg where her hand remained in order to get his attention. Derek quickly looked over and saw the doctor, too, and he leapt to his feet, Casey not far behind.

"What's going on?" Derek tried to remain calm, but the bark in his tone betrayed him.

"We administered a low dose of the experimental drug," Doctor Zimmer explained steadily. "So far, Tyler hasn't responded to it. We're going to give him a larger dose within the next hour."

Casey bit her lip. "Has he been losing weight still?"

Doctor Zimmer nodded slowly. "Just a little more, fractions of a kilogram. We're keeping a constant eye on him."

"Can we see him?" Derek found the words blurting out of his mouth. He wasn't even sure he wanted to see the fragile newborn right now—he didn't know if he could handle seeing him like that again. But his voice spoke otherwise.

"Sure," Doctor Zimmer nodded. "Follow me."

Casey crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself protectively as she and Derek followed the doctor into the nursery. Her heart began to sink when she saw his tiny body through the glass from across the room, a monitor next to him steadily beeping in time with the infant's small heart.

Dr. Zimmer excused himself, leaving the young parents alone with the tiny baby who was holding on to a string.

"Oh, Derek," Casey cried softly, staring in through the glass at their beautiful, sleeping son. He had even more wires attached to him, and a tube of oxygen going up inside his tiny nostrils.

Derek's heart broke at Casey's uttered cry and at the sight of his son looking so weak and smaller than ever. He looked about the size he was when he had been born—or, at least, when Derek had first laid eyes on him.

The baby's little body twitched, and he opened his eyes wide, staring up at his parents as if he had felt them near him.

A sad smile instantly broke out on Derek's face. "Hey there, buddy," he cooed softly to the baby, hoping he could hear him through the glass.

Casey watched the infant peer up at his father, and felt her eyes fill up with tears.

"Your mom and I are really worried about you. We need you to get better, okay?" Derek continued gently. "We…" he trailed off, getting choked up. Casey blinked back tears that threatened to fall.

"We love you so much, little guy. We need you to get better," Derek whispered, his voice wavering. And, along with Derek, Casey let the tears trickle down her cheeks.

Derek looked down at the floor as tears dripped down his face. "I love him so much, Casey," he whispered hoarsely.

"I know," Casey stifled a sob, leaning over and pressing herself against Derek's body. He stood there numbly for a minute before letting his arms wrap around her, pulling her close to him, breathing in her scent and the essence of Casey.

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Dr. Zimmer came back to tell the two that they had to leave so they could administer another dose of medication on Tyler. The two teens reluctantly left, telling Tyler that they loved him and to hang in there.

George picked them up, and, seeing their solemn expressions, asked if there was anything that he could do.

"No, thank you, George," Casey replied stiffly, still not able to stop the tears from continuing to seep out of her reddened eyes. Derek was ghostly quiet through the whole ride home. He went straight up to his bedroom when they got into the house.

"How is he?" Lizzie and Edwin came running up to Casey, seeing as Derek wasn't going to give them anything.

"Not so good," Casey said, her lower-lip trembling as Nora walked into the room.

"Oh, honey," Nora gathered her eldest into her arms. "I'm so sorry."

Casey just nodded against Nora, then pulled away, eyes downcast. "Derek…" she said slowly. "I've gotta go see if Derek's okay." With that, much to the entire family's surprise, she turned and ran up the stairs to Derek's bedroom.

"Derek!" Casey called, knocking on Derek's closed door with all of her might. His music was full blast, and she couldn't hear if he had told her to come in or not. Not sure what to do, she simply burst inside.

Derek was sitting as his computer desk, staring down at the floor, big fat tears rolling down his flushed cheeks.

"Oh, Derek," Casey spoke when he finally looked up at her. He looked away, embarrassed, but she wouldn't have that. She lowered his music so it was at a bearable volume, and walked over to him.

"Derek…"

"I'm fine, Case…" he sniffled looking away in annoyance.

"No you're not," Casey said slowly, shaking her head. "I'm not either."

Derek glared up at her. "I can't lose him, Casey."

She nodded, feeling yet another batch of tears threatening to blur her vision. "I know."

"No, you don't," he grunted, furiously rubbing at his eyes as he got up angrily, marching over to his bed and sitting down.

"Derek…" Casey began again, wondering why he was pushing her away.

"Just get out of here, Casey," he said sternly, not looking into her eyes. He didn't want to see the pain in her eyes; he couldn't stand it any longer.

"No," Casey said defiantly, setting her jaw. He was not going to shut her out now. Not now, of all times, when she actually needed him. When she needed him to be strong so they could help each other through this…

"Yes!" Derek growled, finally glaring up at her.

"Why?" Casey asked softly, hot tears making their way down her face, getting the collar of her top wet.

"Because…" Derek looked at her, how pretty and broken she looked. A beautiful mess.

"Because… I can't lose him, Case… not like I lost you."

Casey blinked several times. "Wh-what do you mean?" she walked towards him slowly. "I'm right here, Derek. Right here."

Derek shook his head. "No. You're only here because Tyler's sick. Before this, we weren't even on speaking terms. You hate me, Casey. I fucked up your life."

Her jaw dropping onto the floor, Casey gaped at her stepbrother. "Don't say that."

"It's true," Derek shrugged indifferently. "You hate me, you broke up with me, and I'm the one who got you pregnant. If it wasn't for me, you would have never had to leave for Newfoundland. You would never be going through this pain now…"

"But then we wouldn't have Tyler," Casey interrupted, now standing in front of him.

"Exactly. We wouldn't have Tyler," Derek looked up at her pointedly.

Casey looked stricken. "Derek… I _love_ Tyler. I would never give him up, not for anything in the world!" Her voice got higher as she began to shout, getting angrier and angrier.

"AND I LOVE YOU!" Derek yelled back at her, standing upright, just inches between them. "I. Love. You," he said more quietly and forcefully this time, staring deep into her bloodshot blue eyes. "But you don't feel the same way." He gave a dry smile. "C_'est la vie_, eh, Case?"

With that, he left the room, leaving Casey standing there, speechless.


	14. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: **_Enough of the depressing stuff... it's time for some upbeat stuff. Hope you enjoy this short chapter... I'll be posting the next (and final!) chapter as soon as I can... please keep reviewing, you guys are totally rocking my world with your wonderful feedback! Oh, and make sure you go on the Family Channel's official site and click on 'Life With Derek' podcasts... there's a new one with Ashley and Mike taking salsa dancing lessons. It's so adorable! Be still my little Dasey heart. Hehe. Okay, enough rambling. On with the story!_

_--------------------------------------------------------_

Derek locked himself in the bathroom and sat down on the closed toilet seat, raking his hands through his hair. He couldn't believe he had just said it out loud, had just confessed his true feelings for Casey. What a horrible time to do so.

He was terrified to lose his little boy. But what topped that off was the fact that if his son died, he had nobody else… Casey didn't love him. She would move on. She would have boyfriends and lovers and then a husband and probably even more children. But Derek knew that he would always be stuck on Tyler, his relationship with Casey, and what might have been.

And that was just killing him.

There was a knocking on the door, and Derek groaned.

"_Occupado_," he yelled through the door, rubbing his weary eyes with the balls of his fists.

The knocking continued.

With a grunt, Derek flung the door open wide to find Casey standing there, her hands planted on her hips and her face twisted up in "pissed off" mode.

"Don't you _dare_ tell me how I feel," Casey said in a low, angry voice.

"Case, I don't want to hear this," Derek said tiredly. "Our son is in the hospital. He might not make it. And if he doesn't, then I have nothing left."

"You have me," Casey said, her voice a little less seething this time.

Derek cackled a fake laugh. "Yeah, right," he scoffed. "You broke up with me, remember?"

"It was a year ago," Casey threw back. "I was scared and confused!"

"Well, I was in love," Derek shot back at her. "I still am," he said a bit quieter now, looking away from her.

"You're just saying this because you're afraid of losing Tyler," Casey responded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I am scared of losing him," Derek admitted. "Scared to death, actually. But that's not the reason. I've been in love with you for so long, Case." He sighed heavily in frustration. "I just wanted me, you, and our son to be a family…"

"That's what I wanted," Casey replied. "But since I got home with Tyler you've been ignoring me like the plague. Until now, that is."

"I was hurt," Derek confessed. "And scared that I would make a shitty-ass father."

"You're a great father," Casey immediately responded. She looked down at her feet. "I thought you were mad at me. Or that I…disgusted you."

"You would never disgust me," Derek said gently, holding back the need he felt to take her into his arms.

"I thought I was just another one of your '_girls_,'" Casey said bitterly.

"Never," Derek replied automatically. "I always knew you were The One." Taking the risk, he gently reached up and cupped her right cheek. "Tyler was conceived in love, Case… on my part, anyway."

Casey didn't shy away from his touch. She looked deep into his dark brown eyes and softly admitted, "On my part, too."

It took a minute for her words to sink into Derek's mind. _Was she… was she saying…?_

"I love you too, Derek," she said quietly, leaning into his touch.

Derek stood stalk-still as the words he had longed to hear echoed through his mind. "Are you… are you serious?" he asked.

Casey couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. "Yes, doofus."

"Hey," he pretended to look wounded, but couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face.

Casey leaned in and Derek wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly to him.

"Now all we need is Tyler," he murmured gently, pressing a kiss against the warm skin at the crook of her neck.

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The next morning, Derek and Casey got up early to visit Tyler and see how he was doing. Nora went with them, looking just as antsy as the two of them as they went up to the infant infirmary.

Doctor Zimmer came right out to greet them, a smile on his face.

"The heavier dose is working."

That was all Casey needed to hear to break out into happy tears, and she squeezed both her mother and Derek.

"He's doing better?" Derek asked, a goofy grin spreading across his face.

"He's making much progress," the doctor nodded. "He's getting his food down and doesn't seem to be having any more stomach troubles. In fact, we're going to try manually feeding him now. Would you like to come in and see him?"

"Yes!" Casey blurted, and the three of them followed the doctor.

Through the glass, Casey and Derek could see their son. He didn't look so pale and weak anymore. His cheeks were healthy and rosy, and he was even moving around, kicking his legs and waving his arms in the air.

"Hi, sweetie," Casey crooned to the baby, and Tyler looked up at his parents happily.

"Hi, my little buddy," Derek echoed, a grin permanently plastered on his face.

A nurse came over, a bottle in her hand. "If he eats this, we can take him off of the IV," she told Nora, Casey, and Derek matter-of-factly.

"Eat for the lady, buddy," Derek told his son as the woman gently lifted the tiny infant out.

"Please eat for her, sweetie," Casey added, crossing her fingers.

They watched in hopeful silence as the nurse pressed the bottle against Tyler's pouty pink lips. He pushed it away.

Casey's heart fell, and Derek squeezed her hand in disappointment.

But the nurse tried again. And Tyler latched on immediately, beginning to suck down the baby formula like he used to—fast and sloppily, just like how his father ate.

"Well, he's certainly a Venturi," Nora smiled as happy tears began to fill her blue eyes.

Casey burst into happy tears, and she and Derek shared a long, grateful hug.

"Oh, thank God, thank God," Casey murmured, clutching onto Derek's shirt as she cried happily.

"He's okay, he's alright," Derek responded, closing his eyes in thanks.

"BUUUURP!"

A loud burp resonated and Casey and Derek broke apart to look at their son.

The nurse laughed. And baby Tyler seemed to grin up at his parents innocently, white formula all over his face as he leaned up to latch back onto the bottle.


	15. Chapter 14

**Author's Note: **_I'm so sorry about the wait, I've tried posting this last chapter about a billion times and it kept not letting me. Grr! But FINALLY, here it is. I thank you all for the feedback, and hope you have enjoyed this story! This is dedicated to my friend Maggie who just had a (thankfully) healthy baby boy last week! -grins- _

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Casey smiled down at her son as he finished his bottle and began to contently fall back to sleep. It was early in the morning, much too early for anybody to be up in the house, and yet Casey was cheerfully awake, sitting on a chair in the living room, holding her perfectly-healthy baby boy in her arms.

"Did he drink it all?" a voice surprised her, and she glanced up to see Derek standing in the doorway watching her. She wondered just how long he had been there.

"Every drop," Casey whispered back so as not to wake the infant, and smiled up at Derek.

"Good boy," Derek smiled at the baby, walking in closer to the two of them. He studied the peaceful infant sleeping in its mother's arms. Tyler looked great—he had gained weight, gotten back his baby pudge, and was beginning to smile a lot.

"I should put him back in his crib," Casey said, standing up. Derek nodded, not speaking as he followed her back upstairs. She padded into her bedroom with her fluffy pink slippers on, and gently placed their sleeping son in his crib. She looked over, feeling eyes on her, and noticed that Derek was in the doorway, still quietly observing.

"He's asleep; you can go back to bed," Casey gave him a soft smile. Not that it had been his turn to get up with Tyler, anyway. She cocked her head to the side, suddenly curious. "Why are you up, anyway?"

"I heard you and Tyler get up and go downstairs," Derek shrugged. "Just thought I'd come out and see you two."

Casey's smile widened. "You do realise that it's an ungodly hour on a Saturday morning, don't you?" she teased, walking closer to him.

"I know," the corners of his lips tugged upward into an amused smile. His eyes drifted downward, drinking in the sight of her, and Casey immediately crossed her arms over her chest shyly.

"Derek…" she began, her cheeks pinking. He was clearly checking her out. "I'm in my _pajamas_…" They were not exactly the sexiest things in the world—pink flannel pants with white clouds on them and a matching top that buttoned up, revealing only a tiny sliver of skin at the top. She imagined that her hair was a mess, too, frizzy and untidy in a poor attempt of making a bun with one hand while heating up Tyler's bottle with the other.

"I know," Derek continued, the smile still playing on his lips as he advanced her. "You still look hot to me."

Casey laughed at that. "Oh, _please_," she rolled her eyes good-naturedly at him.

"Please what?" he arched one eyebrow teasingly, reaching out and sliding one hand under her baggy shirt to rest at her hip.

She shuttered at the contact he made with her bare skin. "Uh…" she realised she didn't have a good comeback as all thoughts flew out of her mind. All she could feel was his hand against her hip.

He smirked inwardly, knowing exactly what he was doing as he rested his other hand on her other hip, and drew her in closer to him.

"Derek…" she began to protest, but it came out more breathy than she would have liked.

"Shh…" he whispered to her, leaning in so now their lips were just millimetres away. "Did you mean what you said the other day?" he then asked softly. "About loving me?"

Casey slowly nodded, capturing her lower-lip between her teeth self-consciously.

A full-out smile then broke across Derek's face, and in one swift move, he pressed his lips against hers. Their first kiss in about a year. Their first kiss since Tyler had come into the picture.

"Derek…" Casey moaned his name this time, snaking her arm up his back and burying one hand in his hair, losing herself in the kiss. She had forgotten what it was like—how Derek's kisses made her feel. How perfectly their lips moved together. How her knees nearly buckled when his tongue slipped easily into her mouth, deepening the kiss until she felt like she was flying off to some other galaxy far, far away.

Derek pushed her gently backward until she felt the back of her legs hit the bed and then the two of them fell onto the bed, their lips not detaching even once.

It felt like old times, with the two of them making out, hurrying to get each other's clothes off. But this time, something was different. Because as soon as Derek got Casey's top off and Casey had slipped Derek's pants down to reveal yellow smily-face boxers, there came a noise from across the room.

Both Casey and Derek completely froze, their heads turning in synchrony at where the noise had come from—the crib.

Scurrying up, Casey hurried across the room, Derek not far behind her. They peered into the crib, and were surprised to see that Tyler was up, his eyes wide as he smiled up at the mobile above his bed, his hands reaching upward as if he could touch it.

"Was that you, little guy?" Derek asked, puzzled. He spun the mobile around for him and Tyler grinned, opening his mouth. And they heard that noise again.

It was Tyler laughing.

"Are you laughing at us?" Casey asked, smiling brightly as she heard her son laugh for the first time.

"I don't know whether to be offended or not," Derek whispered over at her, and Casey laughed despite herself.

"Come here, my little man," Derek beamed down at his son, gently pulling him out of the crib. Tyler gave a little squeal of laughter again, and Derek and Casey shared a look of pure joy.

Casey watched as Derek cradled their son against him, pressing a kiss against the baby's still practically-bare head.

"When are you gonna grow some hair like your old man?" Derek chuckled at the baby, running his hand through the few wispy strands of dark hair that the baby did have.

Tyler squealed again, and Derek practically lit up at the sound. Casey had never seen Derek look so completely… _blissful_ before.

"You're happy, Derek," Casey blurted out her observation, and Derek looked over at her, meeting her eyes, a surprised look coming over his face.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked, pressing another kiss against Tyler's head and then reaching out for Casey, pulling her towards him and placing a loving kiss against her lips. When he pulled back, he gave her a very meaningful look.

Which Tyler interrupted with another laugh.

"No more laughing for you," Casey chided, a smile on her face. "You should be sleeping, young man."

Tyler grinned up at his mother, and Casey could see the infamous Derek Venturi smirk hidden in that innocent grin of his.

"Oh boy, I can already tell that you're going to be handful," Casey shook her head, and looked up to see an identical grin on Tyler's daddy's face.

Sighing, Casey shook her head again. "Ohhh boy…"

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The kitchen was alive and bustling as Nora made a Saturday morning breakfast of waffles for the MacDonald-Venturi clan. Lizzie and Edwin were talking, while Marti was under the table as George pleaded with her to come eat breakfast at the table in a chair like a normal kid.

Nora looked around, noticing that a portion of the family was missing. The louder, more volatile portion.

"Lizzie, where's your sister? And Derek?" Nora questioned her youngest as she poured in more waffle mixture into the waffle iron.

"I don't know," Lizzie shrugged. "I didn't see them this morning."

That wasn't like them to oversleep. Not when they had a little baby alarm in the form of Tyler now.

"Go get them," Nora waved Lizzie off. "Tell them breakfast is almost ready."

"Okay," Lizzie sighed, hopping off the chair and going upstairs in search of her sister and stepbrother.

"Casey?" Lizzie called softly, giving a little knock on the door that had been left slightly open. She always left it cracked a bit so Derek could come help with Tyler during the night, Lizzie knew that.

Peering into the room, Lizzie raised her eyebrows in utter shock at what she saw. Casey and Derek were both lying in bed together—each fully dressed, to her relief—and they were sleeping, Casey's head resting on Derek's shoulder. And, on top of Derek's chest, lay an equally peaceful sleeping Tyler, cradled by one of Derek's arms.

Lizzie hurried back to her room and grabbed her new favourite thing—something that the family had gotten her for her recent birthday. Then she ran back and walked into her sister's bedroom again, as quietly as she could.

And the camera flashed as Lizzie preserved a beautiful memory on film. She would frame it and give it to them someday.

Maybe… on their wedding day.

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**THE END!**


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